The Bishop, The King, and The Knight
by TPKTheStoicTPK
Summary: For every string of events there are countless stories to tell. This is one of them, the story of a pawn who would be a knight, a bishop who would be Queen, and a king who would be God. Sequel to The Ace, The Queen, and The Two of Hearts and second book in my "Final Judgment" trilogy. Runs parallel to canon up to NT1 so there will be spoilers.
1. Toaru Kanshanokimochi no Shakkin

Toaru Kanshanokimochi no Shakkin

A Certain Debt of Gratitude

* * *

Kuroko's heart was heavy this evening. She had been released from the hospital 2 days ago after a single day of recovery. If it had been any other doctor she would have been shocked at such a fast treatment, but the doctor she had had, which was the same doctor as the one from four years ago. He was the greatest doctor she had ever met, good enough that the nickname which he typically went by was Heaven Canceller. Though it was a slightly silly name as heaven didn't exist, and even if it did she would hardly be going there if she died…

Ever since she had been released however Misaka had been distant, almost as if she was scared of Kuroko. Now that the thorns were gone they had stopped sleeping together and any passive attempts at getting closer were pushed away. Her aggressive attempts were met with as harsh a shock as ever but they now inspired a kind of sadness in the electro-master. Kuro's existence and what she had said was weighing heavily down upon her, making her feel as if Kuroko was no longer the same person as before. She didn't understand yet that they were two completely separate people, two different entities and because of this her love for the teleporter was slowly dwindling. This was what was weighing down upon her heart and making happiness difficult to grasp.

She dreaded what would happen if her Onee-sama completely pushed her away. After all, while Kuroko would freely die for anyone, the older girl was the one person in the world that Kuroko was willing to live for. Kuroko's life was worthless in her opinion; the only thing that gave it worth was the fact that her Onee-sama saw some value in it and what her Onee-sama thought was worthwhile Kuroko saw as being the same. If the electro-master stopped loving her then it would just prove that her existence wasn't really worth anything after all.

This wasn't the first time these thoughts had passed through her head of course… the first time had been four years ago, right after she had done the thing which robbed any value that her life might have had, when she had killed a man. Since the value of all human life was equal, taking a life forfeited any value that the killer's life might have had. This was her opinion. This was why she had believed she no longer deserved to live.

Back then, however, there had been a person who still saw value in her life. She remembered the day they first met. She was sitting in her hospital bed just after her time suffering from Hell. Though her tears had long since run dry and her throat hurt as much as her heart from the sobbing she still cried. Alone in her hospital room with swollen red eyes and a cracking voice she cried as Kuro tried in futility to comfort her. She knew she didn't deserve comfort, she knew she deserved nothing but hate and death for what she had done.

Then, as she looked down into her lap a hand suddenly entered her field of vision, the hand held a long rectangular box out to her. Inside the box were two pairs of ribbons, two vermillion red ones and two snow white ones.

"Your hair is a mess child," a voice said, calm, kind, soothing, "Ribbons, to tie it up with. I'm sure they'll look good on you." When she didn't make a move to take them or even to look up at the person they walked up and tied her hair up in the pigtails it had been in since then.

"Your doctors have noticed the mental strain you seem to be under and they have reached the conclusion that you are no longer stable enough to remain within the city. But you don't want to leave do you child?" the person asked after they were done. Kuroko sniffed and shook her head. She didn't want to go but didn't want to stay either, she didn't know what she wanted, she just knew that it didn't matter what she wanted.

"So I shall transfer you to another hospital, under another doctor. He will look after you and not send you home."

"Why," Kuroko finally croaked out in her rough voice, "I don't deserve your kindness, I don't deserve your gifts… I… I killed a person," she said bringing on another bout of sobbing.

The person put their hand on her shoulder to comfort her and waited until she had stopped. "I know what you have done child but that merely means that you now owe a debt to the world, a debt I will help you repay one day. You and your life are still important, they are valuable to me even if they are not important to you. One day I know you will repay my kindness but I need you to live until that day, for my sake if not your own."

Kuroko nodded. She knew her own death wouldn't settle the debt she owed the universe for her crime. After all, no one would care about her death, no one would go to her funeral. She had snatched him away from over 30 people. She didn't just kill him, he robbed those thirty of someone they held dear. She practically murdered 30 people in one action. Her death wasn't enough to pay for thirty others. But if this man was willing to help her repay her debt then perhaps she should take his offer.

After that he had taken her to another hospital where she had met Heaven Canceler Over the next three years that man had visited her several times but a year and a half ago he had stopped. A year after that she had stopped going to Heaven Canceler as well.

Now however she seemed fated to face her past again. She looked down into her hand where she held a piece of paper requesting her presence. It was from that man.

"I guess it is time to begin repaying my debt," she said as she teleported one final time into the building that was his place of residence. The man stood in front of her as she appeared. She bowed low to the ground.

"Ahh, you have arrived," he spoke in the same tone as he always had, calm kind, soothing, "It has been quite some time since I have seen you last child…"

Kuroko smiled fondly at the person who had saved her, the person who had shown kindness and mercy despite knowing what she had done, despite knowing she deserved nothing of the sort, the person to whom she owed a great debt of gratitude. She bowed her head lower as she spoke to him and said, "yes it has… it is good to see you again Aleister-sama."[1]

* * *

[1]: Earlier Aleister sent a "puppet ", a doppleganger, to the hospital to avoid detection. It would only make sense that he would be able to do so, though it also makes sense that it would be rare that he does. The reason he risked such a thing will be revealed later on.

* * *

Author's Note/ Foreword (despite coming after the first chapter…): All right then, this is the first chapter to the sequel of my earlier work The Ace, The Queen, and The Two of Hearts and the second book of the "Final Judgment" trilogy which I've been planning since about chapter 8 of my previous book, though I couldn't let it on else it would've ruined the drama of Kuroko's apparent death. I wanted to talk a little before it begins to give you an idea of what to expect since there are going to be quite a few changes. The major things are:

1: This story again focuses of Shirai Kuroko, both Shiro and Kuro, and how she fits into Aleister Crowley's plans for a variety of reasons. Misaka's role in my story is very, very slight. She will be mentioned constantly because Kuroko is obsessed with her but she will hardly show up at all, neither will the other main characters as Kuroko's endeavors are covert and usually far away from their own). Uiharu and Saten will probably show up more than Misaka does but I am not quite sure, perhaps if I receive audience feedback and encouragement to that effect I will consider it more seriously but right now I'm wondering where I would fit it in.

2: This story runs parallel to canon until New Testament, meaning everything that happens in TAMNI happens in the exact same way at the exact same time in my story other than perhaps a few minor appearances by Kuroko that don't really change anything. But since Kuroko is rarely in the novels and the few appearances she has are minor at most it gives me a lot of freedom to say what she is doing while this is going on, which is one of the major reasons why I chose to focus on her.

3: Because of 1 and 2 the romance in this is practically non-existent until quite late in the story. I apologize to the people who really liked that aspect of my last story but I can't afford to change Misaka's feelings too much without risking affecting canon. In this chapter I try to give a reason for this.

4: Despite running parallel to canon several elements of it will be greatly expanded upon and in some cases directly altered, as you will see in these two chapters to come. Whether you find this enjoyable or not depends, I know, upon my skill as a writer so I will try hard not to let you down. My explanation for most of what violates canon is simply this: My characters are not omniscient, nor are the characters in the main story. They can be mistaken about things and there is more than one theory about things like magic, and while some characters know and accept one theory, other characters may have another. And things like Aleister's plan and an explanation of how artificial angels work are completely unknown in universe so I can pretty much do what I want with that and claim that what has been revealed has been a red herring or misinformation.

5: As in the real story, many religious and mythological elements will be used and contorted. Next chapter in particular may quite offend Christians quite a bit and for this I apologize ahead of time. I am an atheist but I respect all religions and don't wish to offend anyone, I am simply trying to create a compelling story with a rich mythos to it, blasphemy is far from my mind.


	2. Toaru Mahō no Shurui

とある魔法の種類

Toaru Mahō no Shurui

A Certain Kind of Magic

* * *

Author's Note: This is one of the only times I will ever put the Author's note before my work but it is important here. **This will be one of two (not in a row) long chapters with no action and considerable exposition but you really only need to read to the third line, skipping the small lined-off section in between, to understand the story and you can skip the rest if you don't care about the particulars of my magical system and just want to read the action-y bits, in which case I held back the release of this chapter so I could group it with the next one which should sate you action hungry readers and involves ninjas.** This chapter is going to be expanding upon canon a considerable amount. I will try to keep it generally in line with what canon says but there will be differences and there will be things which are unprecedented in canon and some of which may directly contradict it, though this will never happen without an explanation. I hope you trust me as an author to know what I am doing in that department but I appreciate any critisisms you have.

* * *

"I trust that the years have treated you well child, I apologize for my absence this past year but things have been… busy and they will get even worse soon. That is the reason I have called up you. All those years ago you mentioned a desire to repay your debt, both to the world and to myself. Do you still hold to those words?" Aleister asked. He'd rather get her to agree to do what he wanted rather than hold the debt over her head and force her to.

"Of course," Kuroko replied expectedly, "I will do anything I can to repay all your kindness."

"That is good to hear. Tell me… do you believe in magic?"

Kuroko's brow furrowed at the unexpected question, "no. The concept is ridiculous."

Aleister smiled, "and what of Kuro? What does she believe?"

Kuroko was taken aback. She wasn't aware that Aleister-sama was aware of Kuro. Aleister stood there, expecting an answer. _It is as I have said before. __"Your roommate shoots lightning out of her fingers and once defeated a big, blue, fetus-shaped blob of concentrated AIM-fields. I am willing to believe in Ninjas, I am willing to believe in magic, I am willing to believe in anything but luck and God at this point. With the exception of those two things, logic dictates that you should believe in whatever has evidence behind it, even if it is something like magic."_

When Kuro had said that, she had deliberately emphasized magic because she had suspected its existence for a long time. She and Shiro did not share all sensory information after all. Kuro could not see the "dimensional grid" of the 11 dimensions like Shiro could. And Shiro seemed to be unable to detect the strange energy that flowed so powerfully from the man in front of her, as well as a few other people through the years, like Kuro could. It was not AIM, even in impossibly powerful levels AIM wasn't detectable.

Kuro, too, had that same strange energy flowing through her own veins, but only when she was in control of the body. She had filed it under magic as the catch-all category of the unexplained, though she hadn't quite believed it was actually that. She was still willing to believe in it if evidence was presented to her.

Kuroko relayed Kuro's thoughts then asked, "how long have you known about Kuro?"

"Before I answer that let me ask one more question… what do you think Kuro is?"

"Schizophrenia or an alternate personality disorder."

"She is neither of those things actually. If someone were to hook you up to a brainwave scanner they would detect two completely different patterns at the exact same time. It is not that way with schizophrenia. More than that though you actually have two different souls residing within the same body. Though they are not a full soul each, it would be more accurate to call them 75% of a soul. 25% is always active no matter who is in control to maintain consciousness while the other half is latent, only emerging when triggered by certain conditions. It is an interesting condition that I have never seen in person before, though I have heard cases of similar things happening." Aleister had indeed heard about things such as this happening but the reason behind it had never been clear. It was by simple stroke of luck that it had actually happened and when it had the reason behind it had become more clear.

* * *

When a person was born they were named, not by their parents, but by god himself, a name in the language of the angels. The soul of the person was built upon this name and through this name they borrowed the power, which in most cases came in the form of mana from hell though it was not unheard of for telesma to power a person's existence as well, needed to sustain consciousness from heaven. In most cases the name was 2 words. A particularly powerful person such as a saint or a level 5 had 3 words to their name. In very rare cases of extreme power there were four words. There existed only 4 such people in the world today, Accelerator, Kakine, Touma, and Aleister himself.

Even God was not infallible however. Ever since the three alteration to the natural laws of the world had occurred long ago , along with the fourth alteration which Aleister himself had caused when he founded Academy City, there had been a few mistakes with the names. Far more people with three were born than usual and a few were born with only 1. In either case the baby often died shortly after birth, whether by ripping itself apart with its power in the case of a 3 worded soul or because a single worded soul did not have enough energy to sustain consciousness.

There was however a single exception: Kuroko. Her name upon birth had been a single word, the angelic word for heaven. The reason that this was enough was that the angelic word for heaven was actually composed of two different angelic words, the words for everything and nothing. This little detail allowed her to survive even though she only had a one word soul name. It had also piqued Aleisters interest and he had taken steps to monitor her, protect her, and induct her into Academy City so that she could undergo the Power Cirriculum Program. He was interested in seeing what would happen to her.

The power curriculum program functioned by changing the angelic name of a person artificially, much like magician training did. However the key difference was how it changed it. Normally the words of a person's soul were 2 nouns. Since nouns were the most common type of words in angelic most people were matched with two random ones at birth. Magicians trained hard to alter the first noun and turn it into an adjective instead. Adjectives were not natural in angelic language as most nouns described themselves, so having an adjective in their name confused it into thinking that the person name comprised more words than it did, causing their soul to think it needs to borrow more mana for energy, giving the person an excess.

ESPers, however, had a verb in it as well as a noun. Verbs existed in the angelic language naturally so there were cases where a person was born an ESPer rather than crafted into one. The Power Cirriculum Program was for the rest of the people, using the same principals behind magician training to transform one of the words into a verb rather than a noun.

This process's success depended upon the person's angelic name itself and so the power level they could be expected to reach could be discovered the moment their name had been altered and they had become an ESPer. From there the proper procedures could be taken to foster their ability so that they may reach that level.

Kuroko had been an interesting case to observe. Her transformation had been extremely difficult because of her unique one worded name. It resisted all attempts to change it because, had the first word indeed been changed, it would have been rendered completely unstable. However it could only take so much strain. But before it was altered it broke, splitting into two as a new word formed in between, the only word capable of going there. But this formation was still unstable and it broke apart further. The new word that had been formed was also capable of being split in two, one word a verb, the other an adjective, which is exactly what happened. But instead of maintaining a single soul of four words they actually pushed against each other, splitting into two souls, one of which inhabited a portion of the brain which Kuroko had been born with that heightened her chances of developing schizophrenia, a portion which had been altered by the program as an unintended side effect.

When he had heard the results of that particular experiment, Aleister had been somewhat surprised that his theory had been correct. He had also been slightly surprised over the results and saw the potential for a person who could be both a magician and an ESPer at the same time. However this optimism didn't last long since one of the souls was latent and couldn't take control, and even if it could only one could be in control at a time, meaning she would only ever be either a magician or an ESPer, never both… at least not at the same time…

* * *

"I apologize for my rudeness Aleister-sama but I don't believe in souls either." Kuroko spoke up.

"Belief is unnecessary child. If you are ready to begin repaying your debt than you have just to do as I ask and regardless of whether you believe it exists or not I would like you to learn about magic. Or do you perhaps not trust my Judgment on this matter? You are free to decline if you wish but I hope you at least believe in me and believe when I say that the best way you could help is to do as I ask, even if it seems ridiculous."

Kuroko opened her mouth but then shook her head and said, "Again I apologize Aleister-sama, I trust you completely. You have been nothing but kind and you have always looked after me. If you say that this is the best way then I will do as you ask. You have never been wrong before."

"Good. There is a building near here where you will be taught," he told her where exactly it was and continued, "I also wish you to keep this a secret from others as well. We can schedule around when you're available. How does 10 o' clock every night sound child? We will supply you with advanced supplements to ensure that the lack of sleep does not affect you and it will allow you several hours to learn each night."

Kuroko nodded, "yes Aleister-sama."

"Excellent. Then you are excused."

Kuroko nodded and teleported away to the designated place. She knocked on the door and a tall suited man opened it. She had seen him briefly once before, a couple months ago, when Kuro first surfaced during her first encounter with the Horn of Jericho. He had been watching from the rooftops and would have gone completely unnoticed if Kuro was not paranoid enough to look up every couple seconds for traps and people just waiting to spring on her.

"Ah, greetings Kuroko," he said in accented but perfect Japanese,"Aleister told us you were coming. My name is Vyers," he held out his hand, "it is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."

She shook his hand. "Likewise," she said politely, though she didn't really feel it. She looked closer at Vyers. He was young looking, quite tall, and seemed foreign, with pale white skin and styled brown hair. He wore an expensive looking designer suit. Pinned to his lapel was a white and black flower with vermillion leaves that looked like a cross between a lily and an orchid. The flower was immediately familiar. She was about to ask when she was interrupted by Vyers.

"Come in, I'll introduce you to your teacher." He lead her into the entry room of what looked to be a fairly comfortable apartment.

"No need my friend, I can introduce myself," another voice, similar to Vyers's said. He walked into Kuroko's line of sight. "My name is Lammington. A void magician and… an ally if not a friend… of Aleister's. He has asked me to teach you. Given the proficiency with magic you displayed earlier it should be quite an interesting endeavor."

'My imagination is better than I thought. These delusions are very vivid… oh well. Can't hurt to play along at least. I know I'm insane anyway so it's not like it matters.' She thought, then said, "I look forward to it. But may I ask what you mean by "magic I displayed earlier"?

"Replicating the effects of a complicated spell like David's Blessing with so little experience, training, or anything else is impressive."

Kuroko blinked a couple of times unsure of what to do or say. Kuro decided to speak up. _I can handle this if you wish. Simply relay my words to them._ Kuroko nodded and began to speak for Kuro "_The feat was not too great actually. I managed to absorb some of the energy as well as the basic form of the spell from a previous encounter. The layout was all there, all it took from me was a bit of added energy."_

"It is impressive nonetheless. Now… Today I am instructed to teach you about magical theory and history. I shall start with the most relevant to you and the most personal to me. Void magic."

* * *

"Void magic is a type of magic that allows control of entropic forces and rates of change. It is a primarily, practically exclusively, defensive magic that has no spells used to kill or harm. To control it requires either a strong desire for things to stay the way things are or a thorough understanding of the concept of eternity, for eternity is the essence and power of void magic. I say that this is the most relative to you both because, not only does this particular aspect of it suit what I have been told are your principles, but also because you have displayed talent in it and your mana is void aligned. Normally that would mean that you excel more in one type than another but void magic is fairly exclusive. the mana aligned with that type of magic eliminates possibility of using it for other purposes. So this is the type of magic you will learn."

"Okay…" she responded going along with this madman's babbling for now, as a favor to Aleister-sama, "Why is it so exclusive?"

"Because the source of it is different than that of other magics. It has to do with magical history, really. You see… magic isn't a natural thing. It only came into existence 4000 years ago, before then the only the only magic that existed on earth were the 5 aspects, essences housed in crystals on a shrine on Gibraltar, before it was destroyed and became a strait. But a man found this shrine and used the aspects to steal the power of the prime archangel. While that position is now Michael's it was not always, it used to belong to an angel known as Samael, who controlled entropy. Since all things have an entropic value his power encompassed everything and it was the power that allowed chemical processes and reactions to take place. But his power was drained by this nameless, forgotten magician and he was presumably destroyed. This magician used this angelic power to alter the very language of the angels to something easier for humans to understand and use, thus allowing people to use magic. However at this point the only thing that could be used was void magic which used the ambient, unabsorbed energy that was caused by the fall of Samael to borrow his power and change reality in a limited fashion."

"This also had the effect of ending the age of Isis and preventing people from awakening to it naturally and making alignment to it far rarer. The current person capable of mastering it is the only person in 1100 years to be able to do so, and his existence is only a theory given that he was not born in a civilized part of the world. Though 1100 years isn't the rarest example. You see there are five aspects. Set, Isis, Osiris, Horus, and Ma'at[1]. Currently Osiris is the most common but even that has not seen a master since Sir Isaac Newton, a good fellow who used the enormous powers of vector manipulation granted by it to discover the way the world worked rather than gain power. Horus is the second most common, being the next in line of progression and has not had any masters since Merlin. Then you have Isis. Then Set, the age of which ended a long time ago when humans first appeared, a master of that has not been seen since Attila the Hun, tainted by the madness and evil associated with the aspect, used its power to crush the Roman Empire. Ma'at is even rarer still and is the only aspect which has nobody capable of awakening to it currently in existence, nor has anyone like that existed in almost 2000 years."

"Are these aspects supposed to be significant?" Kuroko asked, somewhat skeptical. It was a common practice of humans to retroactively apply knowledge to fit history, attributing a person's significance to a factor which agreed with their belief and taking that as proof. Still, it was at least a somewhat entertaining story.

"Yes actually, for they are how the worlds are kept in balance."

"Oh, so there are more than one eh? What are you going to go for for the others? One of the classics like Heaven and Hell? Maybe Nirvana and Tartarus? Or perhaps something more original? How about Zippy and Floop? I admit that there are multiple dimensions but I am tired of people confusing dimensions with worlds. Dimensional travel doesn't mean you go to another universe, it just means you move around in this one."

Lammington was patient, infinitely patient, so this did not disturb him in the slightest. "I understand your skepticism, in fact I encourage it. Know that these are naught but theories, but also know that nothing is anything but a theory. Perception is our reality, and thus what clouds perception may seem to alter reality and what seems to be an unrealistic reality may or may not simply be the result of a skewed perception. I am merely offering one version of how this universe of ours may be perceived, whether you accept it or not is up to you."

Kuroko took a deep breath, "I apologize for my rudeness. I know better than most people what you are talking about and for that reason this is a little overwhelming."

"Shall we stop for today?"

"No," she responded, "keep going. I can handle it."

"Very well I shall finish up on the 5 worlds, 5 aspects, and how it relates to you, then we can get the rest of magical history as talk more about the 10 elements." Lammington continued.

"The name of the five worlds don't really matter but they are typically called, as you suggested, Heaven, Earth, and Hell, with the other two referred to collectively as Limbo. But the imagery of it is quite different from the actual place, at least according to the theory that we will be working with. Hell is not a place of fire and torment, but a place of pure mass. Hell has no energy and more importantly no entropy. The dominant equation of equivalence relates mass to volume rather than energy through a universal constant based on 3 constant densities, one each for gas, liquids, and solids, rather than the speed of light. The purpose of Hell is to receive faulty energy, such as those from fallen angels, from either heaven or earth and purify it, returning it to earth in the form of mass which can then be transformed back into energy by Heaven."

"Heaven is the opposite of that, having energy but no mass where entropy works in reverse, so that the energy levels condense rather than propagate. The dominant equation involves a constant energy transfer rate which is multiplied by time.

"Earth is a blend of the two, having both energy and mass interacting in the form of force and vectors, with entropy working normally and a dominant equation featuring the speed of light as a constant."

"The two limbos are places where mass from earth is transformed into energy for heaven and vice versa or where energy from earth is transformed into mass for hell and vice versa. The two limbos allow heavenly aligned mass and hell aligned energy to come into being if something is retrieved before. This is important because hell aligned energy is also called mana and is what allows spells to be cast."

"But whereas Lower Limbo can be accessed by anyone capable of magic, it is impossible for just about people to access either Heaven or Hell and any ordinary human to access Upper Limbo. That is where the aspects come in. There are 5, as I said, divided into two categories. Mastery and Mobility. Mastery allows the aspect master to control the power of their particular world when awoken. The three Mastery ones are Isis, which controls hell, Osiris, which controls earth, and Horus, which controls heaven. The two Mobility ones allow one to move either mass or energy up or down between the worlds but doesn't allow control of it. The two Mobility aspects are Set, which forces things back away from earth back to either heaven or hell and is demonically aligned, and Ma'at, which brings things to earth from heaven or hell and is angelically aligned. Originally the aspects were created and placed on earth to maintain the balance of energy and mass but since their powers were drained by the nameless first magician the world has been slowly taking on more energy than it is naturally supposed to have, causing an inbalance between heaven hell and earth that is causing heaven to lose energy at an exponential rate."

"And what exactly does that mean?" Kuroko asked.

"Well… let's just say that Nietzsche was wrong about god being dead, but he's not far off."

"I'm an atheist, I do not, cannot, believe in god," Kuroko said firmly, "magic I can grow to accept as a hallucination but I cannot accept that there is a god, even in my delusion."

Lammington shrugged, "that is your choice but at least listen to the rest of magic history if simply to understand everything." He waited until Kuroko nodded before continuing, "going back 4000 years, there existed nothing but angels. Each angel had their particular domain over which they ruled and a small portion of free will to do as they wished on earth. Because they held all of the power over their chosen domain however it was impossible for humans to influence the world through something like magic. Though ESPers still existed in the form of Gemstones they were rare."

"I don't believe in gemstones either," Kuroko pointed out.

"I would have you know that I am a gemstone," Vyers pointed out, "the power curriculum program didn't exist when I first became an ESPer."

Kuroko looked at him, "I tried so hard and suffered so much to get my ESPer powers. I cannot accept that some people can be born with them and not have to suffer at all to obtain something so valuable. Besides, It's been around for 30 years. You can't be more than 27."

"Thank you for the compliment but I am actually 546. Lammington is even older than I am, 712. My ESPer power, much like his magic, keeps my body young through various biological stagnations of which I do not fully understand. From what I have been told my DNA is preserved by my power and does not degrade over time. Being a void mage, like Lammington, you are the same way."

"wait… you're saying I'm never going to age?"

"Possibly… There has never been a void magician, to my knowledge at least, so young. It is unknown whether you will age to adulthood or not…"

Even though she did not believe it (at least she told herself she didn't) it was disturbing. She was tired of being treated like a child and if she was stuck in this body forever then she would never be treated as anything more…

"There is of course a caveat," Lammington spoke up, "There is a reason void magic is one of the rarest despite granting functional immortality. Since void mana is not granted by borrowing the power of angels like the rest, which we will get to tomorrow, but rather from the world and the self. This means that the mana is not self-renewing as other magicians have. While the mana allows for eternal life and regeneration the person must ingest mercury. Unfortunately having void magic doesn't give you immunity to heavy metal poisoning and it isn't exactly a sustainable form of immortality. At least not until I discovered this," he said holding aloft a flower. It was a flower she recognized. It was the same one that Vyers wore on his lapel and that she still had on a vase at her table at home, "It's quite an interesting little flower. It grows near volcanoes, constantly exposed to the highly poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas and mercuric oxide rich soil. After thousands of years of evolution these elements have been incorporated into the flower itself. The stem and leaves have rendered the mercury sulfide in a safe state which makes a fabulous tea that allows me to sustain my mana without poisoning myself."

"on a side note the thorns aren't as safe to eat as the petals and stem. The thorns have a high concentration of Dimethylmercuty, a powerful neurotoxin to most humans. Though void magic grants immunity to organomercuries as they simply break themselves apart into their organic and mercuric components harmlessly, it can still cause heavy metal poisoning."

"… wait… the thorns are deadly?" Kuroko asked, finally understanding the danger she had so casually placed herself and her Onee-sama in. "I have to go," she said teleporting away and back home where she took the bouquet that was still in the vase and teleported them down into the ground, feeling quite guilty as she did so for risking the life of her Onee-sama. She looked over to the girl who was resting in her bed, somewhat fitfully, and decided that she had had enough learning for tonight. She would be back there tomorrow.

For the first time in 4 nights she wriggled into the older girls bed and allowed her arms to wrap around her

* * *

[1]: All of which are actual aspects in thelema, the historical cult created by Aleister Crowley. I've done an almost spooky amount of research on this.

* * *

Author's Note 2.0 : A matter has been pointed out to me that I'd like to remedy. Misaka was contacted shortly after she reached the hospital (to find out that she was expected by the doctor) by Lammington who informed her that he was still alive so she should not feel guilty for his death. He stated that he really did feel guilty and would pay Kuroko's hospital bills himself stating that "collateral damage in my line of work means that people get hurt. I don't enjoy seeing that but sometimes it is necessary for the greater good. In those cases it is all one can do to minimize losses and take any consequences resulting from those still suffered." Because Kuroko had survived just fine she found it in her heart to forgive him.


	3. Toaru Shinobi no Fuhyō

とある忍びの歩兵

Toaru Shinobi no Fuhyō

A Certain Pawn of the Ninjas'

* * *

August 8th

Misaka was quite surprised that morning when she felt a presence in her arms pressed against her. She looked down to see the top of a mane of pinkish brown hair that she had become so accustomed to seeing recently yet hadn't seen now for 4 days.

Ever since that incident with Kuro she had been cautious of Kuroko. She felt both a little bit scared and frankly betrayed that Kuroko would keep something like that from her. And considering what had gone on before the incident it just made things so much more confusing. It was hard to tell who was who and what was what now. Even worse was the fact that Kuroko seemed to be taking it hard, very hard, and yet Misaka was hesitant to help her because of those feelings.

By the girl's heartbeat Misaka knew she was awake but she didn't seem very motivated to move. Misaka was holding her head tightly to her chest. Still something seemed off... something was off... she knew that much.

Misaka hated seeing her like this. So she shifted her grip slightly to draw her closer and rested her chin on the other girl's head, taking in the familiar, and admittedly missed, sensations as she asked her, "Are you ok?"

There was hesitation, then a slight verticle motion of the head, probably a nod.

"Is that the truth?"

This time the motion was horizantal suggesting a negative.

"Is it because of the Queen thing?"

This time the motion was a quick verticle nod followed by a quick horizantal shake.

"Does that mean maybe or kind of?"

Two nods. So it was 'kind of'.

"You know I don't hate you. What happened wasn't... the most pleasant thing. It was kind of scary actually... not just with Kuro but with the injury you suffered... I thought you had died..."

Kuroko's arms tightened their grip and for the first time that morning she spoke, "I love you. I'll love you forever. Dead or not."

Misaka returned the hug. "I love you too."

And for the first time in 4 days the two shared a kiss and spent some time alone together in a non-awkward manner.

* * *

But the time was short and finally evening time came around. Kuroko was on her way back from Judgment, talking with Kuro on the way.

_An interesting couple of days no?_

"An interesting, intricate fiction that they've constructed," Shiro answered, "but I see no reason to continue this charade. I went through two days of it because Aleister-sama asked but if they say that I don't have to continue with this farce, if they say I can always help with another route, then I shall tell them I am going to do that."

_So that is what you shall do in a couple hours when ten o' clock rolls about._

"Indeed," she answered as she continued her walk home.

She had almost gotten there when she heard a voice from the shadows, "Hello again young one."

Kuroko looked towards the voice and saw an elderly man with long white hair and a long white beard in a very old fashioned robe. The robe held a familiar symbol. 'Ah… hallucination #13' she thought, recognizing him as the "ninja" who had given her the symbol all those weeks ago. "Hello Yami Koga, what may I do for you this fine evening?" she said politely.

"Good to see that you still recognize me. How has life been treating you," he asked, just as polite.

Kuroko shrugged, "Can't say I'm ecstatic. My sanity has been increasingly in doubt these past few days so your appearance is somewhat comforting. At least now I'm sure that I'm insane…"

"Ah yes, you had similar problems last time… speaking of that do you still have that thing I gave you?" It was hardly a necessary question since if it had gotten lost or destroyed she wouldn't remember him.

She retrieved it from her bag, "indeed it seems I do. It's actually saved my life before you know?"

"You understand what that little symbol means do you not? It means you are a part of our clan, with all that that entails. Our allies are your allies and your enemies are our enemies. But I'm afraid that sometimes that sword cut both ways. You see, I need your help with a small matter."

"I won't kill…" she warned, knowing that ninja were primarily and historically assassins.

"Nothing so tasteless… no it is in fact a kidnapping… but not one that we need you to commit but rather one that was committed upon us. You see… there is a tradition among our clan and one of our chief allies, the Fuuma clan, whereby the daughter of the clan's head marries the future clan head of our clan. Given the recent problems with the clan inheritance this ritual is even more important. Unfortunately a rival clan has chosen to kidnap my granddaughter, who will inherit clan leadership from me when I pass, as well as her fiancé."

"And you want me to rescue them? That sounds fine. It's a bit late at night but hey why not. If I may just ask one question: why you do not choose someone from your own clan to rescue her?"

"They know the faces of all the members of our clan as well as all of our tricks and have surely set up countermeasures. But they do not know you, nor your capabilities." He said, adding in his mind alone, "Besides our clan will be too busy ripping the rest of them apart while you provide a distraction and keep my granddaughter safe,' he thought. The primary reason that he had not killed her immediately was that, after seeing her power in the fight against those two rebels, he realized that having her as an ally was far more valuable than having her as a corpse. She was proving to be an easy pawn to manipulate as well, he hadn't had to use any of his usual mental tricks on her, no threats or similar persuasion methods either.

"Ok, tell me where to go and I'll rescue your granddaughter and her fiance," she said. It actually brought a little smile to her face. It was so like the role she had loved to play as a child, that of a brave knight rescuing a princess in distress. Of course it could be expected, given that this was nothing but a hallucination, "and their kidnappers will face justice."

"Very well then, they are at the mahjong palace over in district 18."

Kuroko face palmed, "are you even trying to hide? You're centered in a dojo and… seriously? A mahjong palace? There aren't enough people able to gamble in this city for that to possibly be profitable."

"You'd be surprised how profitable it is actually, especially considering how often they forget to ask the age of their customers and the wealth of the other customers. Being one of us is not what it used to be. You can hardly make a living out of it. So we use our skills for other means. The only reason we are able to sustain ourselves with something simple like a dojo is outside funding but most others must resort to grander uses of their abilities, gambling is a popular one. But considering how easily you accepted the rest of my words it is odd that you are so skeptical about that."

"I was just disappointed in how uncreative my hallucinations were…" she sighed, "anyway, I'm sure I'll be able to find it. So I'll be off." She said and teleported away. When she had almost gotten there she changed into her stealth suit. _Why did you accept so easily? They could just be using you, you know._

* * *

"They probably are," she answered, "But he had a chance earlier to kill me and nothing much has changed so I doubt he's trying to kill me off to this, so the kidnapping is probably real. So if they are just using me at least they are using me to rescue someone right?"

_You just want to play knight don't you?_

"A little bit…" she admitted. It was a fun fantasy, much more fun than the past two days of boring lecture. Finally her hallucinations were giving her some nice action. She had to admit she had been happy to see the ninja. Whereas her other hallucinations were so frustrating because they were close enough to reality to keep her confused about which was which, hallucination #13 was so delightfully absurd that it was obviously fake. She had thought the magic would be the same but it had mostly been a lot of tedious talk rather than people in funny hats with wands shooting fireballs. And people talking wasn't absurd.

_Be careful at least._

"Why bother. Hallucinations can't hurt me…" she dismissed. Still she turned on the stealth of her suit as she approached the majong palace. It was closed as curfew approached so she doubted there would be many people. She looked up to the top floor and decided that she should look there first with the logic that "princesses are always kept on the top floor."

But when she teleported up there all she saw was an office of a CEO or someone similar, filled with paper and other bits and pieces. She frowned, disappointed. Then began searching around on foot, looking for them, turning the T-ray filter of her sunglasses on.

It took her a while but finally she came across a room containing two girl-shaped objects tied to a chair. She opened the door and walked into the room. It seemed to be a tool closet with two shelves on either wall filled with all kinds of tools and cleaning implements. She walked up to the two girls reaching up to untie them when she saw a sword stab into them.

She blinked as she looked at the blade. It was carved with runes in a strange language. She followed the blade with her eyes. It led straight into her chest through which the blade had pierced. She was surprised to see it sticking through her armor undisturbed, reminding her of the knife of that one thug that she had encountered during her time as the scourge. The one that could bypass artificial material. It would only make sense for someone like ninja, who often had to take down heavily armored samurai, to have a similar thing, perhaps a spell?

The blinding pain hit as she was still musing upon this matter, wiping such thoughts from her head to be replaced by a single question 'how… I thought hallucinations couldn't hurt me?'

* * *

"So this is the best the Koga clan has to offer? A naïve weakling who falls for such a simple trick and thinks that a simple cloaking spell makes her undetectable? Pathetic," a man said behind her. In front of her the image of the girls faded away to be replaced by two wicker statues of the same size tied to the chair in the same manner.

"_Idiot,"_ Kuro said, taking over, knowing that Kuroko couldn't teleport with such high amounts of pain, "_I told you to be careful_," she pulled a tonfa out as her other hand grabbed hold of the hilt of the sword which was pressed into her back by the ninja. She spun around, keeping tight hold of the hilt to prevent and further movement of the sword, which was already piercing an artery. She swung the tonfa at the other man's head adding the electric shock to the already powerful hit and knocking the ninja to the floor. Where she quickly pinned him with her feet. Then she addressed him, "_I suppose it is a bit pathetic… falling for such a thing. I take it you have similar traps all around the place right? Well here's the thing… I'd like you to tell me where they are, along with the location of the girls you guys kidnapped and if you don't I'm going to make your life very, very miserable. There are a lot of tools in her to do just that you know… would you like to see what I can do to your fragile little body with a simple claw hammer?"_

"No please no… I'll tell you alright?" he said, fear in his voice at the chilling tone of his opponent, who didn't seem to slow down at all even with a sword sticking through her chest. He told her where she could find the other traps as well as the location of the hostages, on the second floor in one of the offices.

"_Thank you for your help, now I know that there is certainly a trap there. And given how quickly you answered that first location for where a trap was placed I'm guessing that's where the hostages are. After all, the words of the tortured drip with lies, for who has better reason to make things up than someone who's being threatened for information,"_ Kuro watched his eyes widen and took that as a cue that she was correct, "_Don't worry. I forgive you. In fact just for that I'll give you something special… a special little demonstration."_ She picked up a hammer that was lying nearby Wait… what are you doing Kuro? Stop! To this Kuro simply replied_, "Don't worry, this is just a hallucination… I'm not hurting anyone."_ STOP! Kuro smiled putting down the hammer and instead she used her tonfa to zap the ninja into unconsciousness.

"_From now on any situations in which you throw caution to the wind because of this idea of safety that you have from the idea that it is a mere hallucination know that I will not hold back against enemies. If you insist on tilting at windmills know that I will burn them to the ground. I do not wish to make such a threat but I don't want to see you hurt little Shiro."_ I understand, just please don't kill anyone ok? Hallucination or not I can't bear any more blood on my hands."_Do not worry little Shiro. I will not kill. Torture and maim perhaps, depending on the situation but even those I will not resort to unless completely necessary. Now let us go to the first place he said was trapped, that's where the princess is most likely being held by the dragons."_ What are you going to do about the sword? "_Leave it in, it is too dangerous to remove. Even if the fiction of this supposed magic of mine and the healing ability it brings is not a fiction, I am still doubtful of my ability to regenerate from a major arterial bleed before it kills me." _But it would still be a problem if it moved about or anyone tried to pull it out, so Kuro carefully bent it just where the sword exited her chest to prevent this from happening

Before leaving she examined the area, first beginning with the wicker statues. They seemed quite normal, the only odd thing about it was a little paper charm with runes stuck on each one. The runes on the piece of paper were similar to, yet still very different, the ones on the sword. She picked it up and felt a slight, strange energy flowing through it. Kuro judged the size of the wicker dolls and said to Shiro, "_Do me a favor and think of the pereskia, picture her in your head as vividly as you can."_

Why? Shiro asked, though she was already in the middle of doing so.

"_A theory"_ Kuro responded simply, channeling this vivid image from Shiro as best she could and placing the rune paper back on the wicker doll and channeling some of her own energy through it. Suddenly the pereskia appeared where the wicker doll had been, confirming Kuro's theory on the purpose and mechanics of this particular spell. Oops, I messed up the hair a bit… it's grown a few millimeters since that time, Shiro thought and suddenly the spell fell apart, despite the energy continuing to be run through it.

"_Interesting… it seems that it only works so long as either one image is concentrated on or, more likely, it is ineffective against someone who notices a flaw in the illusion. I'm guessing that is how they recognize what is real and fake, by putting in a small little flaw and telling those who need to see past the illusion what it is."_ She pocketed the charm and continued her investigation, this time looking at the wall opposite the door of this room, where the ninja had sprung from.

* * *

It seemed to be a typically sliding wall with a hidden room large enough to house one person and very thin wallpaper able to be easily seen through placed over the eyeholes. But the most notable feature of it was that the sliding part of the wall had what seemed to be a thin lining of lead or something similar. It must have been what had caused her to miss their signatures when she had been scanning.

So instead of the typical T-Ray filter Kuro switched to the infrared which would not only let her find the threats by the heat radiating from the eyeholes, but it also gave her the additional advantage of being able to tell the difference between wicker and flesh, even if it was otherwise disguised by a spell.

With that sorted she proceeded towards the money vault in the basement floor. Logically that should have been the first place to go but Shiro had to choose the foolish option and go by storybook logic. Kuro sighed as she made her way to the elevator, carefully searching for any additional traps on the way.

Why are you continuing the search? You have no stake in this and it holds risks to me, or rather my body. You don't care about what happens to the people either, so why do you continue?

"_It has long been my duty to protect you Shiro. I roused for long enough to help you with what you needed then withdrew into the crevices of your mind. But when I was forced from those crevices and they closed behind me I realized that that was an insufficient purpose for me. So I looked and looked for what purpose I could have beyond that. So I chose to support you in all your endeavors, make your purpose my own. I will be the squire to the knight, the Sanchez to your Don Quixote. If you wish to take on this dragon and save the princesses then it will become my duty as much as yours."_

…I don't really know what to say… thank you I think is appropriate. But in a sense it is kind of sad as well. One day I promise you, you'll have a purpose as well, a purpose beyond mine. And I'll support you as you've supported me.

Suddenly, as she rounded a corner, Kuro saw a tiny sliver of heat radiating from the wall where one portion was hotter than the rest while the surroundings were ever so slightly colder. She crouched down and sneaked up close, waiting until she was finally in range, then she swung her tonfa through the eyeholes where they hit the waiting ninja right between the eyes easily knocking him out. She examined the room he was guarding and identified another two wicker figures inside, signaling another trap. Though this one she had managed to avoide.

Finally Kuro made it to the elevator and stepped in. The button for the bottom floor was a finger print scanner much like those she had seen in the elevators of Mendeleev Industries. She crouched down to where her glasses were directly in front of the scanner and scanned it instead, letting the advanced technology identify the fingerprints upon its surface.

Despite being regularly cleaned there were still many fingerprints smudging up the surface so it was difficult to pick up a whole sample, but near the edge she found one with just enough to be sorted out. Then the data was automatically transferred by the suits computer, causing the carbon nano-fibers of her armored glove to shift and twirl, forming the groves identical to the one that had been picked up by the scan. Then she pressed this onto the scanner which processed it and beeped, signaling that it had been accepted. Then it began its slow descent.

* * *

Kuro then proceeded to unscrew one of the cameras from the either side of the rim of her glasses and place it on the floor. She switch one lens to pick up the information from that camera alone then opened the hatch on top of the elevator and clambered out of it onto the top, careful not to drive the sword any further in or cause it to move too much, though she noticed that the bleeding had stopped for now before the blood loss had been severe enough to weaken her. Don't you think that's a little paranoid? Shiro asked.

Kuro didn't answer just yet, instead she waited, getting out the grenade launcher and loading it up with a concussion shell followed by a flash shell to deal with any stragglers. Then she waited until the elevator dinged at the bottom floor. Instantly and expectedly a hail of knives, shruiken, and bullets flew through the open door from the 10 odd ninjas who were waiting on the floor beneath.

"_Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you," _Kuro responded and aimed for the main group of them and fired, but the disorientation of the split visual input along with the fact that she had very little skill in this weapon caused the shot to go wide of its target. Luckily it was a grenade, accuracy didn't matter too much and it still knocked out 4 of them. She adjusted the shot, both to compensate for recoil, which was both severe and painful at the odd angle she was forced to hold the launcher at, and to improve accuracy. She fired the grenade at their feet, setting it to detonate .05 seconds after a bounce with the dials on the handle to ensure that it was at their eye level for maximum effect.

Then she spun down through the elevator, picking up the camera she had left on the floor and rushing out just as the doors began to close. She dropped it and the grenade launcher on the floor and instead drew her two tonfa, quickly dealing with the remaining six who were hardly expecting any of this to be going on and were ill-prepared to deal with flash grenades and electrified tonfa.

* * *

Now all that was left was the massive vault door in front of her. Given how well defended it had been she guessed she had been correct in assuming that this is where they were. The vault door however was shut tight and had four separate security measures to overcome. A key, a retina scanner, a fingerprint scanner, and a keypad.

After picking up her grenade launcher and camera, putting the former away then screwing the latter back into place, she looked for the man with the keys on him, finding him quickly. She took the key and dragged him over to the door, guessing his fingerprints and retina would work as well. She heaved him up for the scanners to read and then put the key in and turned it.

Then she scanned the keypad looking for fingerprints. The computer took this information and ran it through an algorithm which used various behavior patterns of people selecting and inputting codes, such as selecting a low number first and holding down the last key for longer than the rest creating a smudged fingerprint, to select the probability of various codes using the numbers selected. She typed in the most likely but it failed, so she typed in the next most likely finally being successful on the third try.

The heavy door slid to the side revealing three people in the room. Two girls, human not wicker without any sign of a piece of that charm paper on them, tied together in a far more effective and complete style than the others had been including cloth gags were lying in the middle of the room. Standing over them was another ninja, fairly unremarkable other than his emblem, which was gold instead of silver like the rest, much like the emblem of that old man Yami. He held a sword in his hand and was pressing it to the neck of the girls.

* * *

When he had heard the ruckus he had been slightly worried but he was confident that they would never make a move against him while he held the girls hostage. After all, she was to be the next head of their clan. This confidence had been shattered when he saw who walked in. While they had the emblem of the Koga clan he didn't recognize them at all.

This meant that they had completely different interests from the rest of the Koga clan and likely wouldn't care even if he killed the hostages. That made them not only useless but a slight hassle, since killing them would take enough time to allow this mystery person to make a move against him, a move which he would be wide open for.

So rather than risk that he turned to her, moving his sword away from a threatening position and pointing it at her instead. "It seems we have an unexpected guest… you may have defeated my guards but do not think I will be so easy to defeat me. It seems you have already had a run-through with one of our swords. You'll soon have another one…"

Kuro dropped low and closed half the distance quickly then immediately stopped the charge, knowing that momentum against a skilled opponent was not something you wanted to have, especially with a sword that could ignore armor. Then she engaged, attacking when she could but putting more energy into dodging the swift and furious attacks. However she was outmatched and suffered several wounds, though most of them minor cuts and none of them deep.

Finally he readied a stab and launched it at her. She was about to dodge when she realized that, in their battle, they had moved quite a bit and now she was between him and the princesses, if she dodge they would get hit, same thing if she let it pierce her.

There was only one solution left…

She put up her hand in the path of the sword, tilting it away from her and the princesses, then tried to follow Lammington's advice from yesterday, trying invoke the power of the infinite and unchanging, only to find that she couldn't. Her ability to feel wasn't strong enough to do it by desire for stagnation alone, nor was eternity a concept which she could truly grasp. Kuroko's power was dominion over the instant. She could do things in a time frame so small as to effectively not exist. She was almost solely capable of causing instant change, so she understood that concept very well. But eternity was far out of her grasp, it was the inverse of everything she understood.

The inverse…

* * *

'_If you take an instant,_

_And flip it on its head,_

_You can bet,_

_That you will get,_

_Eternity instead.'_

* * *

Two comet-like wisps of black energy flew out of her hand and created a tilted circle. Kuro realized that all eternity was was a math problem. The limit of the function 1/X as X approaches zero where X is time. An instant and an eternity were intertwined, connected. Understanding of one led to understanding of the other if one had a little bit of math knowledge. The reduction of something as ephemeral and emotion based as magic to simple math and a well understood concept allowed Kuroko to finally tap into it and create the effect she wanted rather than simply pouring her energy into a pre-existing spell to create an effect.

Of course she was still a novice and the shield, which at high enough levels could deflect a powered up railgun, shattered under the sword blow. But it was still enough to deflect it away from her and the princesses and give her and opening which she used to drive her tonfa into his shoulder, breaking the bone. A second hit to the head knocked him out.

With him handled she crouched down and helped the two princesses out of their bindings with a quick slice through the ropes. The girls stood up and straightened themselves out before taking their gags out.

The girls were quite pretty and were dressed in fancy and beautiful yukatas, being somewhat easier to move in than kimonos, that were a surprisingly vibrant colour for ninjas. The slightly taller one looked to be about sixteen. She wore a pink kimono with a purple bubble pattern, her hair was long, down to her back, but looked quite smooth and manageable, easy enough to tie up if necessary. The other looked fifteen and wore an orange kimono with a yellow and red flower pattern. Her hair was much shorter and quite curly.

"Thank you," the older one said, "your rescue is much appreciated. Now may we see the face of the bold knight who saved us?" she asked. Without waiting for permission the other one eased her helmet off of her head. If either of them were surprised they didn't show it, but then again they were used to not showing their surprise.

"A little smaller than I expected but so much cuter," the curly haired one said with a smile, sounding as if she was talking to a kitten. Kuro disliked the condescending tone but was too tired from the fight and the healing that was currently going on to protest.

Then the longer haired one bent down in front of her and said, "a little gift for the brave knight who rescued us," she said and kissed her, followed by a similar show of affection by the other one.

Shiro was slightly confused. Was this technically cheating on her Onee-sama? Or was it simply the way, as in the stories, that princesses paid back the knight who rescued them? Should she be concerned or dismissive or should she treat the gesture with respect? Kuro was in her own thoughts, wondering if a kiss with anyone would transform her back into Shiro or if it had to be her special little Dulcinea, the pereskia. It turned out to be the latter as the two girls looked down at her again after separating.

"Sorry if, being a girl, that makes you uncomfortable, even sorrier if that was your first," the longer haired one said, only raising these after the event had passed.

"_It is my 38__th__ and 39__th__ respectively, all the prior of which were also with a girl, so no it doesn't bother me. Are either of you injured?"_

"Oh pity… you already have a girlfriend then?" the long haired one feigned disappointment, continuing to stall. She was sure the rest of her clan would be here soon enough if this person was indeed an agent of their clan. She had heard about a recent inductee but hadn't cared much about the details with her childhood friend and fiancé's visit being so soon, so she wasn't sure if she was just pretending to be a Yami agent to get her to let her guard down. Since she wasn't exactly desperate to leave she doubted the girl in front of her was too concerned with her safety, though whether that was as a result of everyone else being incapacitated or because another reason she was unsure.

"Flirting with other girls right in front of your fiancé?" the younger one played along, acting shocked and hurt, "and after I held your hand this entire time to keep you from being scared."

"Come on, you know its not like that. Things are just a bit more fun with three sometimes. Besides you were the one whose hand I held to prevent from getting scared."

"_Are either of you hurt?"_ Kuro repeated the question.

"Other than a bit of rope burn on my wrists no. Our yukata protected the rest of our bodies and I was pressed against something quite soft," said the curly haired one, "so what is our brave knight's name?"

"_Kuroko,"_ she answered.

"I'm Tsubaki Fuuma," said the younger one.

"And I'm Mako Koga," said the older one.

"_Your grandfather asked me to come and rescue you two. He's quite worried… or so I assume considering his demeanor is unreadable. So we should get going."_ She said then dug around her pack and took out an ointment, giving it to Tsubaki. "_Ointment for your rope burn. Keep it if you want, I have more at home."_ Then she went over to the unconscious head ninja, pocketing his emblem and dragging him out of the vault. The two girls followed close behind her, beginning a game of eye spy. Kuro could see their reflection on the highly polished elevator doors.

As they were walking through the room Kuro's arm shot back, gently gripping Tsubaki's arm which was raised, with two small knifes that she had hidden in her hair clutched in her fingertips ready to kill a couple of the disabled ninja's with. "_There is no need for that," _Kuro reminded her as she turned, "_They will face justice soon enough." _She pointed at the knife,"_That is not justice princess so please hand them over, along with the other five you have on your person." _She looked at Mako, "_you can feel free to keep the three you have if you do not try to kill anyone with them."_ Metal was distinctive on Infra-Red and she had easily identified the knives at the beginning.

Tsubaki frowned. Even the ninjas had missed them, how had she not? She sighed as she peeled the skin colored patch off of her neck revealing two knives which she gave to Kuroko followed by the three on her thigh as Mako tutted at her, finding it quite amusing.

"_Revenge is an understandable desire," _Kuro continued, "_But the knight's duty is to justice not revenge."_

"I'm sorry," warbled Tsubaki kissing Kuroko again, mostly because it seemed to annoy her, if ever so slightly. Ninja or not they were teenage girls who were just entering the truly rebellious phase. Normally it would have been impossible to get her to agree to something like an arranged marriage but it had been to her best friend Mako and she had promised her when they were 4 or so that they would get married one day, "pwease forgive me oh brave and merciful knight."

Kuro didn't answer her, only kept on walking until she reached the lift then calling it down. Then the three got in it and she pressed the button for the main floor. Along the way Mako said, "Ok this has been bugging me since you rescued us… are you aware that you have a sword lodged in your gut? Doesn't it hurt?"

"_The pain is excruciating but rescuing you is more important than that," _She explained, making the two feel slightly bad that they had been doing nothing but teasing this selfless little girl… slightly.

* * *

When they arrived at the main floor a familiar face was waiting for them. Tsubaki bowed, her voice now completely sober as she said, "hello grandfather."

"Hello Tsubaki. It is good to see that you are safe," he said before looking to Kuroko, "thank you very much for your help. We shall not forget this kindness." He would certainly not forget how successful his little plan to use her had been. It was hard to come across halfway compotent people who follow orders without question and don't ask for a reward. She was a good pawn and a valuable tool if properly manipulated.

Kuro nodded and said, "_Then I shall be on my way." _She said and left, sword still sticking through her chest, though the flesh around it had closed up on it and helped prevent it from moving, decreasing her pain.

* * *

Author's Note: I decided that after last chapters long winded explanation of an imaginary magic system that I'm sure not many people were interested in I would hop right into a nice action chapter. This arc really helps set the stage for what this entire book is about really. But I still wanted to wean my readers off the romance that I know many were attracted to. So I'll probably still have a romance part here and there, getting less and less frequent as the book goes on. As I said before though, I will bring the romance back in full in the third book and there will still be romance in this one. Though it will not always revolve around Misaka and Kuroko.

Also, just so you know, the purpose of Kuroko's armor and now her newfound regeneration ability has never been to give her more power. It's been to allow me to hurt her as frequently and badly as I want without her dying. Armor doesn't prevent people from getting hurt, it just prevents them from dying from their injuries, same with regeneration. It wouldn't do to have Kuroko be out of it for days at a time because she's recovering so I just came up with a method to allow her to be hurt without dying as easily as a normal person could. Though she can still die and will.


	4. Toaru Mure no Rīdā

とある群れのリーダー

Toaru Mure no Rīdā**  
**

A Certain Leader of the Flock

* * *

August 8th, 11 o'clock PM.**  
**

**"**_I'd like to learn magic_," Kuro said to her her white robed and white haired teacher. After the ordeal tonight, she had learned that teleportation and martial arts couldn't solve everything, and that the thing which had saved them tonight was that tiny little bit of magic that Kuro had learned about yesterday. If she could learn more then she might be able to protect Shiro even better. It wasn't like she believed it or anything but she might as well learn it as it did seem to exist in her deluded reality.**  
**

**"**Excellent… then we shall start right away," Lammington said, excited by the passion in her voice and happy that she had finally accepted her responsibility.**  
**

**"**_But at the same time there's a small problem preventing me from doing so. Or at least from implementing it on the field_," she said with a sigh, **"**_I, being Kuro, am the only one who does magic. Aleister himself told me as much a couple days ago. But, whereas I can take over this body at will, switching back is a little harder. And as useful as magic is in an emergency, teleportation is still better for combat situations as well as getting around."_**  
**

**"**Ah yes, he mentioned that to us as well… tell me… how exactly do you switch back?"**  
**

**"**_Well I uh… have to kiss Misaka Mikoto… but if this has to be kept a secret it wouldn't exactly work to drag her along to these little lessons…_," She explained. When she said it out loud the entire thing about the kiss sounded a little bit silly.**  
**

Indeed the entire thing was silly and only partially accurate. The one with a stronger will for control was the one who was generally in control. The switch was a simple mental block that could normally be overcome by willpower alone. But because they had gotten it into their mind that a kiss acted as a trigger it had become true. Such was the power of the mind.**  
**

**"**Hmm…" Lammington considered this for a while then said, "I shall contact Aleister and see if he has an idea." He then did exactly that.**  
**

**"**I believe I have exactly what you need actually. A little toy of an acquaintance of mine whose use is only marginal in her current position,"he briefly explained what he could expect then said, "I shall send her over."**  
**

Lammington conveyed to Kuroko that Aleister was sending someone over and then said, "by the way… I take it you are aware that you have a sword sticking through your chest. Would you like our help with fixing that?"

* * *

Somewhere close by in the city a girl was in the middle of her job, escorting another girl who looked the same age despite the almost eightfold difference, to a place that she had gone to many times before, though rarely before for an escort. Usually she escorted her charges, often several at a time, from one building to another through a system of tunnels rather than through the streets and alleys of the city.**  
**

As she walked through the unfamiliar and out of the way side-streets, the special emergency cell phone she had been given rang and she picked it up. She was told that her presence was needed at such and such a place immediately and that this order took priority above all others. She would have explained what she was in the middle of, but sign language hardly worked over the phone, and the girl was physically unable to convey this information another way without a number of awkward movements and motions that would have taken too long anyway. Even if it did she could hardly have argued. She followed orders, it was what she did, what she was born and raised to do. It was the only thing that had kept her alive this long.**  
**

She shook her head as the person on the other end hung up and she slipped the phone back into her pocket. She looked at the girl she was escorting. The teenage looking girl was currently looking deep into the eyes of a small black cat that looked back up at her cautiously, tail swaying. It was enough to make her sigh, one of the few comprehensible sounds she could still make. The person in front of her was nothing more than a naïve child among so many other naïve children who lasted about a season before she was ordered to escort them to god knows where, where she would leave them in the hands of the other scientists and head back to the lab where she lived with all the other naive children. She had no idea what happened but she knew that she would never see them again.**  
**

They probably left the city or aided the scientists research or something, she didn't really care to know, especially considering the less than pleasant fates of the few she did know about. By this point the entire routine had become so tedious. Perhaps this call was what she needed, if just to break out of this monotony.**  
**

She looked at the other girl who spoke up in response to a silent command, "I need to go, just play with that cat until someone comes to get you, says the shepherd, says MISAKA9982 following onee-chan's orders and playing with the cat in question."**  
**

Then she left to the address that she had been told to go and entered the building.

* * *

Hearing the door open and supposing that this was Aleister-sama's mysterious solution, Kuroko turned to the door. When she saw the person in front of her, her eyes widened in surprise.**  
**

To the untrained eye the girl standing in front of her was, at a glance, none other than Misaka Mikoto. She had the same brown hair and even wore a tokiwadai uniform. But these things alone were not enough, Shiro's eyes, and by extension Kuro's, were highly trained by Shiro's unwavering love, extensive experience, and almost disturbing obsession with her Onee-sama. She knew every little detail of her girlfriend's body and she knew that this was not her.**  
**

The bust and hip measurements of the girl who stood in front of her were .16 centimeters larger than Shiro's beloved Onee-sama and the waist was .06 centimeters smaller. She was also .33 cm taller as well, meaning she was probably a few months older.**  
**

The exposed legs and arms of the girl were lean, with greater muscle definition that her girlfriend. They were the legs of a gymnast or a runner (Shiro stored the mental image of her Onee-sama in a leotard for later enjoyment). Her arms were similarly toned for endurance and speed rather than strength.**  
**

And as Kuro's eyes wandered away from the areas of her interest she saw even bigger indicators that this was not her roommate. The forehead of the girl bore a distinctive cross-shaped scar, mostly hidden by her bangs (which were slightly longer than her Onee-sama's while the back of her hair was shorter, to the point where it could scarcely be seen from the front). The scar matched the silver crucifix that hung from around the girl's neck and tucked into her shirt which in turn matched the wooden rosary around her wrist. On her neck was etched a tattoo with some strange markings in some odd language that Kuroko could not read. **"**רועה**" **it said.**  
**

Her eyes and face were much like Kuro's, dull and largely emotionless. However Kuroko's trained eyes could see the very subtle indications of nervousness that played across her features.**  
**

She was definitely not the pereskia. The two or three month disparity was too large for her to be a twin either. The age difference and physical disparities threw doubt on the possibility that it was a hallucination, shapeshifter, or illusion. So that meant…

**"**She is a clone," Lammington said, verifying that which Kuro had already guessed and relaying the rest of the information which Aleister had provided, "Apparently she is the result of an illegal experiment which produced around 10,000 clones of Misaka Mikoto in an attempt to mass produce a level-five super-soldier. These experiments have been shut down and the people behind them punished," he continued, unaware of the falsehoods he spoke[1],"However the clones themselves are still around. Aleister is now attempting to integrate these clones into a normal life. This one has been selected to aid you in these lessons by allowing you to transition from one state to another easily while still remaining here."**  
**

The concept of cloning a level five to produce an army of super soldiers was logical but repulsive. The idea of raising people, and to Kuroko they were people as much as Kuro was a person, perhaps more because they had bodies of their own, to be nothing but weapons was abhorrent and Kuroko was glad that the operation had been shut down.

"_A clone eh…_**" **she said, sighing at how easily she was beginning to believe all of this now. She looked at the clone in front of her and smiled at her in an attempt to make a good first impression despite lacking the diplomacy or people skills of Shiro, **"**_Nice to meet you. I'm Kuroko, what's your name."_

* * *

The girl didn't answer. However this was not solely because of her mutism, as she did have a device on her wrist which could produce the basic sounds of Japanese if typed into it giving her an effective, if somewhat slow, method of communication for those people who could not understand sign language. The reason she didn't answer was because she didn't know how to. She didn't really know what her name was.**  
**

She could answer with a number, several numbers actually. When she was new to the world, numbers were her only identity. She could call herself MISAKA00000, or Full-Tuning if she chose the codename, as this was the collective name given to the first batch of 100 clones that acted as prototypes for the rest of them. She could call herself by her incubation tube number, 006. Or she could even theoretically call herself MISAKA00001, like the scientists had before her testing, because, though she was the 6th clone produced, she was the first to actually be "born" alive rather than die before the incubation period was over.**  
**

No science is perfect or exact. Cloning was less exact than most due to how little research had been poured into it, even in Academy City. Because of this there were many malfunctions in the process, 3,867 out of 23,881 clones to be produced overall if one wished to be exact. The first batch had it worst of all. They were prototypes, an experimental batch that they used to try and figure out what worked and what didn't. Because of this the first group of 100 clones had seen 87 percent of them deemed failures while the rest were dissected to learn what had made them successful in comparison to the others and help increase chances of survival for later experiments.**  
**The reason for being declared a failure was different. Sometimes there was a mistake at the beginning which caused gross deformities and mutations before it was even fully developed. Other times the mutations were more subtle at first but became obvious later on. These were the crippling mental disabilities that were quite common among the first few batches until they adjusted the growth formula to fix the problem.**  
**

She was one of these failures, though the reason for this decision was not because of a mutation or mental disability. Her physical and mental states were fine except for her inability to speak (a condition that was not considered a hindrance to her purpose as a SISTER as it did not limit fighting ability). Her problem was one of ESPer ability.**  
**

Due to the precise calculations that the entire Level-Six Shift experiment relied upon, the ability level of the clones needed to of a certain type to a certain degree of power. One that was too powerful or too weak was deemed a failure.**  
**

She could still remember the day she had been tested. She had been told to use her power and produce an electrical shock to a machine that would measure its power. But try as she might she could not summon so much as a spark. The scientists had just about called it and left when she, in an act of desperation, grabbed a nearby exposed wire and directed the flow of electricity through her into the target, draining the power of the buildings lights into a powerful lightning bolt.**  
**

Her ability was different from the others. She could not produce electricity but could control its flow. She could control up to ten-million volts but needed an external power source to draw them from.**  
**

Though the ability was interesting and quite powerful in comparison to the other clones it was not Misaka's ability and therefore couldn't be used. She was deemed a failure, stripped of her number (which would be recycled when a later clone took it as happened with all the failures), and sent to be terminated.**  
**

However someone had taken an interest in her and had used their authority to cancel the termination order. This person had rescued her and had taken her under their wing.**  
**

The official explanation was that she was a backup in case the Sister-clones went out of control. Due to her ability she was uniquely suited to hunt down and kill any clones that rebelled if the other failsafe, Last Order she was called, failed. She was taught how to use her ability to fight on even grounds with the original herself despite the difference in power level, though it was doubted whether that would be possible even with all the training.**  
**She was also raised to be the shepherd of the sacrificial flock, helping the scientists to tend to the Sisters during their development then leading them to where they needed to be when the time came. The fact that it was one of their own rather than a scientist helped calm the Sisters down, and her unusual ability to give orders to the clones within a small range of herself despite not being connected to the MISAKA network (none of the Full-Tuning clones had been) just helped with that matter. The scientists found this ability odd and would have liked to study it but the person who had rescued her knew exactly how and why it happened. In fact it was the reason his interest had been piqued in the first place. He had been careful to warn the scientists against attempting to research it. He was content to keep that knowledge to himself.**  
**

While helping to raise the next couple batches of clones, she had soon been given a new name: Onee-chan or Onee-san to some of the younger or more respectful ones. At first she had been a little like an older sister. Before she had become disillusioned and cynical and before they had begun being produced by the thousands rather than the tens or hundreds.**  
**

But since this function, that of raising and helping to develop the others, would only last so long given the inevitable failure of the experiment She was taught tactics, strategy, stealth, hacking, sword fighting, demolitions, firearms, and martial arts using Testament coupled with hands on practice with the person who rescued her, her mentor.**  
**But though her mentor was brilliant he was also distant. He was kind and taught her many things but he was not her friend nor was he like a father to her. He kept the relationship impersonal and had never even given her another name, simply referring to her by the moniker "shepherd" like all the scientists did. Still he was not unpleasant though he was a fairly odd man. His behavior and thought processes were quite eccentric. Once she had asked, in sign language (her usual method of communication among the clones and him), why he had rescued her but none of the other clones. His answer to the mute girl was a grin as he said, "because you have an angelic voice." Which was perhaps a dig at her fondness for music and her proclivity for humming, which was a sound she could still make.**  
**

She supposed that "shepherd" was as much an identity as anything, heck the scientists even had it tattooed in Hebrew (the latter part of which had been the choice of her mentor, himself quite a religious man who had taught her to be the same) on her neck to distinguish her from the others. But she disliked it so much by now. Leading people that she had spent three months raising to some place for an unknown purpose knowing she would never see them again.**  
**

She hated it so much. She hated looking at the other clones because she knew that they would all turn out the same. Even worse, every time she looked in their faces she could see the bodies of the 12 successful clones from Full-Tuning being dissected in a lab as she and her rescuer and mentor had watched on as well as the countless other clones that were terminated or just wound up dead; like those that had died near the beginning of the experiment in that "laboratory raid" that her mentor had told her about. It was very gruesome for a simple raid though, the room that they were in was splattered with blood without a single sign of any invader. Still she trusted her mentor to tell her the truth so she had believed him.**  
**

The day of the initial dissection had been the day she had destroyed any reflective surface she could find in the lab and the day she grew to hate what was in the mirror. She hated being a clone so much. Hated looking like the ones she was destined to raise and then abandon.**  
**

This was why she liked her tattoo and her scar even though they might be seen by some as unattractive. They differentiated her from the others. She might be forced to dress the same as the others and her face and body might naturally look the same, but that did not mean she couldn't try to look as unique as possible with the limited resources available to her. Over time this desire to be different and the accompanying pride in the differences she had led to her becoming quite a vain person. She spent a considerable amount of time grooming herself and caring for her appearance in a way that the clones, indeed that even the original herself, did not do.**  
**

Still, try as she might she could never run away from her identity, from the face she still saw when she looked in the mirror. She didn't want to be addressed as MISAKA anything. And she didn't want to be known by her job either. She had no name really. Thus she shrugged instead of answering.**  
**

* * *

Kuroko felt a sting a pity for the girl. As a clone she couldn't have been treated too well, or be seen as anything more than a weapon. Why give someone who was born and raised to be a weapon a name? Of course Kuroko knew she was more. She deserved a name, the only problem being that Kuroko wasn't the most creative when it came to names, especially when she looked so much like her Onee-sama that it was confusing. Then she thought of something.**  
**

**"**Would you like me to give you a name?"Shiro said, speaking through Kuro this time rather than the other way around.**  
**

The other girl furrowed her brow. Why would this girl want to give her a name? None of the scientists cared. They simply snapped and referred to her as "you" or "girl".Still she supposed that it was easier to use a name to refer to people. So she nodded.**  
**

**"**How does Oneeni sound?" She asked.**  
**

The newly dubbed Oneeni nodded again, both somewhat happy to have received any sort of moniker that wasn't MISAKA something or her stupid job, but also slightly cautious about that happiness.**  
**

Kuro turned to Lammington and Vyers and asked if she might speak to the clone in private. They obliged, going to the kitchen for a snack and some tea. Once they left Kuro turned back to her and asked, **"**_Do you understand why you are here? What your purpose is to be?"_**  
**

Oneeni shook her head.**  
**

Kuro sighed and explained how she was, being of literally two minds and all, and that Oneeni was going to be used as a catalyst for her transformation back from her current personality to her other, dominant one by means of a kiss. She explained that the reason it was necessary was because she looked similar to Misaka who was the only person who the technique worked on.**  
**

Up until that point she showed no signs of any sort of reaction, but as soon as she explained the reason why she saw the tiny signs of anger flitter across her face and body. **"**_You are free to say no,"_she explained, **"**_Indeed I'm not so sure about it myself. While a clone is close enough that I'm fairly certain it will work, you still look and are quite different from the pereskia."_**  
**

Suddenly the anger vanished to be replaced by a little bit of surprise and… happiness. She reached up to her wrist where there was a small device with a keypad. She typed something quickly and a flat, mechanical voice suddenly spoke, "undefined tone: Really?" it said.**  
**

**"**_In more ways than appearance and attitude alone it seems,"_Kuro was insensitive and unfeeling but she was quite good at reading the emotions of people and situations and this was incredibly easy to understand, **"**_I could probably list the differences if you want."_**  
**

Oneeni quickly nodded, eager to hear what she considered highest praise. In response Kuro told her about every little detail that was different between the two, finishing with, **"**_Of course that is simply what I have observed so far. Perhaps if we spent more time together I might see more and I'd be happy to tell you about them. So how about it? Would you like to work with me?"_**  
**

She nodded again, then typed out something again and the mechanical voice spoke again, this time in an eager voice, "excited tone: I look forward to working with you, please take care of me." Throughout the list of differences she had been getting happier and happier, though she never did smile through the entire thing. Her face only slightly betrayed her emotions, another difference in between the two physically identical girls.**  
**

**"**_Come here then so we can experiment and be sure it works." _Kuro said, waiting until Oneeni had come up right in front of her before standing on her tiptoes and kissing the other girl. It was only a quick peck, just enough to transfer control, and this time it actually did just that.**  
**

Of course this entire thing simply served to confuse Kuroko further. When it had been the ninja girls it had been a simple gesture of gratitude so it hadn't really meant anything. With Oneeni it was for a purpose rather than a show of affection so it still didn't mean much. But it still felt awful, like she was betraying her Onee-sama. Kuro tried to assure her that it was her actions and that she could claim no responsibility for them as she had no power over them, but she still experienced it. She felt the soft lips that pressed against hers even when she was not in control, and so it was hard to distance herself from the actions, even if she did not make them consciously.**  
**

So Shiro, when she regained control, was quick to pull away, despite the fact that the pleasant softness was exactly like her Onee-sama's despite the other differences between the two. "umm… thank you for your understanding," she said, "I look forward to working with you as well… I think I'm going to go now." She had learned plenty that day already, learning more about her regeneration ability as well as beginning to learn about how void magic worked, how its mana could be channeled to get a range of effects. It was enough for one night, so she left to get home to the one person who she wouldn't feel weird kissing over and over and over again.**  
**

* * *

Back in the apartment Vyers and Lammington were talking in the kitchen. "So Crowley told us to keep her around here did he?" Vyers asked of his friend.**  
**

**"**Yes… she's moving in," Lammington said.**  
**

Though his voice didn't betray anything Vyers knew he was unhappy with this, "you never did like kids did you?"**  
**

**"**I have lived for a long time, and kids are too… much for me. They are too fast at the beginning and then they grow old and wither like everyone else. And that Kuroko is one of the more annoying examples of children that I've seen, though I suppose that can be forgiven based on the inarguably high-stress situation she is going through. But the entire process is not a pleasant thing to go through, especially repeatedly."**  
**

**"**So you've said whenever I've suggested adoption in the past. Still, you didn't mind taking in that one girl during World War II, the little runaway hiding from the Germans. I believe her name was Sofia or something."**  
**

**"**World War II eh? An unpleasant time to remember," he said, "I could hardly refuse helping those people, and that girl's entire family had been killed. I have seen much but I have not lost my humanity. Besides, last I remember she was still alive and well, though hardly a child anymore, and will remain that way."**  
**

**"**Indeed. That was just before we met Crowley for the first time wasn't it. He was helping the British free some particular people from the various camps in the region [2]. We'd had correspondence before but we had never met him."**  
**

**"**He seemed to take quite a bit of interest in you and our little runaway didn't he? A gemstone is rare enough but having two seemed to really pique his curiosity."**  
**

**"**ESPers used to be rare… but they aren't so much anymore. His efforts have been truly amazing. When Az told us what he wanted to do and invited us to accompany them to Japan to do it I really didn't think he would accomplish such a thing," Vyers said appreciatively. It used to be that the only ESPers there were were gemstones and they only appeared once in every two-hundred-million births approximately. Being a gemstone had always made Vyers special. But now he was the oldest ESPer that existed, and his power had developed to a level five over his long years of training making him one of the more powerful ESPers in the world.**  
**

Vyer's ability allowed him to create stasis fields, stopping all mass and energy from moving within or into an area, or group of areas, up to 25 cubic meters in volume. But it only took a cubic inch within the right portion of the brain to be able to kill a person. After all, if he, for example, stopped someone's heart the rest of the circulatory system would still go on but the blood would become unable to flow into the heart, creating a buildup of pressure that would quickly prove lethal. Via similar mechanisms he could knock a person unconscious in an instant without causing any pain or injury at all. Even the number one level five, the one most important to Aleister's plans, wasn't immune to his abilities.**  
**

**"**He is powerful and intelligent," Lammington said of Aleister, "but he has been losing himself recently… been losing his humanity. His plans are getting more and more elaborate and he seems to be caring less and less about collateral damage. The tension between him and Az are increasing as a result. I hope that these girls do not just end up being used and tossed aside."**  
**

There followed a moment of silence. In this silence they heard Kuroko in the other room, announcing that she was leaving which she did the next moment. "I shall go and show our newest guest around the place," Vyers offered. Lammington nodded and left his friend to do just that. Vyers, unlike his antisocial friend, really liked the added company of another person. So he was quite excited as he showed her around the apartment.**  
**

It was quite a large apartment and would have been very expensive if they had to pay for it. Luckily they were agents of the city and that had its perks. Considering they were two of the most senior and powerful of Academy City's various benefactors and agents, their perks were above most other peoples. It was actually a pleasant change of pace. Being a near immortal void magician and an equally immortal ESPer had gotten them 'executed" in the most varying and creative of ways before. But now being the oldest and arguably most powerful ESPer in the world earned him a luxury car instead of a hangman's noose.**  
**

He showed her around the apartment, slightly disappointed at how emotionless she seemed. Half the fun of kids was their sense of wonder. But when he showed her their massive television she didn't even seem to look at it twice. The only time she seemed to show any sort of emotion was when he showed her the bathroom and the mountains of cosmetics within. Vyers liked to take care of his appearance, to such a degree that most people would refer to him as, what they called, a metrosexual. So he understood the glow, however faint, that was in the girl's eyes when she saw it. He smiled as he said, "Our house is your house, so feel free to use what you like. I'll get you whatever else you need if you just ask."**  
**

Much like several of Kuroko's words these were fairly foreign to Oneeni's ears. Before today she had only had what she had been given very little and had never been able to simply request more. She had simply made do with what she had. Though she liked to take care of herself the tools with which she could weren't exactly varied: soap, shampoo, and a fashion magazine now and again were all the resources she could muster, it was why she had never been able to do something like dye her hair or any other major appearance changes. All these creams and moisturizers in front of her were a little overwhelming. She stepped into the large tiled room and looked around.**  
**Vyers smiled and left her to her devices, going back into the kitchen where Lammington was talking on a phone. He talked and listened for around 5 minutes before hanging up.**  
**

**"**That was her previous… caretaker," the old magician explained, "He says he will send her stuff over here shortly. He also mentioned a few bits and pieces of information that would be necessary to looking after her. He said that she was mute but had a device that would allow her to type out her words in japanese and that she knew sign language so communication is not impossible. He also suggested getting rid of any easily broken mirrors we have lying around in favor of more durable ones."**  
**

**"**That is an odd suggestion, did he mention why?"**  
**

**"**He said we would likely find out soon enou-" Lammington began only to be interrupted by the sound of shattering glass. A moment of silence followed before Vyers rolled his eyes and said, "Fine... I'll check it out."**  
**

* * *

He went to the bathroom and saw their newest guest sitting on the floor amidst pieces of broken glass, holding one up and looking into it as she preened herself. A shadow soon passed over her face and she threw the reflective piece of glass across the room letting it shatter into even smaller pieces as it collided with the wall. then she scrambled about for another piece large enough to see herself in, carefully sorting through as so not to cut her hand.**  
**

Oneeni hated what was in the mirror but without a mirror it was difficult to make one's self look nice. So she would always attend to her appearance for as long as she could in front of a mirror then break it when she couldn't stand the face that she saw any longer. Unfortunately this wasn't always enough time, especially on a day like today with so many new cosmetics along with stress and a particularly strong wave of self-loathing.**  
**

Today things were confusing. Literally everything in her life had been changed in an instant.,and for once it had been her choice to do it. For once in her life someone had asked for her consent, and she had given it, meaning she had no one to blame but herself. But that wasn't the only stressful thing. The way her life had changed and the reasons for it doing so were pressing hard on her mind. She was glad to put that shepherding job behind her but this new job was... different. She didn't quite know the entirety of what it she knew she had received it because she looked like the original Misaka, so she needed to maintain her appearance to continue looking like the exact person she did not want to resemble or else she would be useless at this new job. So even with all of these new supplies she still couldn't change her face too much without risking becoming useless. All she could do was look as nice as possible.**  
**

Not that she could protest any of this, even if she found it unpleasant. She followed orders, she had always followed orders. She could think for herself just fine but she had been trained not to. There was always someone to think for her, always commands to listen to and duties to fulfil and she was the default person to do them. But now she was at least partially free from this, she was now in a new place where the scientists who had ruled and dictated her life could no longer control her. That in itself was scary, causing even more stress.**  
**

This all culminated into one big heap and the stress from that heap helped put Oneeni in the position that she was in now, cradling a now bleeding hand, cut by a piece of glass that had been a little sharper than she had thought, as Vyers shook his head and helped her put a band-aid on it. "Now I'll clean this up. It's late and you've had a busy day so wash your face and head to bed. I'll show you to your room," he said, his voice kind and compassionate and filled with the infinite patience that only people with the "curse" of eternity ,such as he, could possess.

* * *

**"**The next step has begun," Aleister narrated, informing his associate, "As expected, the shepherd has let one of the flock escape in the rush of following her newest orders. The news will likely leak within the day given how quickly our urban legend writer seems to be able to pick up on things. I will ensure the scientists catch up with her after the lamb's encounter with the Railgun, which Oak has predicted to be on the 15th. I shall need you to ensure that the teleporter is absent during this. After that the plan will commence, the Level Six Shift Experiment will fail, as it has been doomed to from the start, whether by the A plan, Touma, or the B plan, the teleporter or the numerous other back ups I have."

The associate simply grinned and said, "you're becoming more and more like my father as the days go on: paranoid with ever-decreasing regard for others."**  
**

Crowley turned his gaze towards the room's other occupant, "just do as I say. I do not need your comments."**  
**

**"**Oh yeah, I forgot how sensitive you are to that word," the associate apologized, though of course the apology wasn't sincere and the person had not forgotten about the other man's particular sensitivity, nor would the person ever let Aleister forget it, not that he ever would, not something like that. "There is a Judgment event that I'm sure I can distract your little child pawn with around the 15th. That is assuming you have nothing you can distract her with. Your planning on drafting her in a couple of days correct? Making her your official tool. You really are a terrible person you know that... considering what you are planning on subjecting that little girl to. And now you've even got another one involved, the innocent little shepherd. Though You've never particularly cared about those clones have you? You planned on this experiment failing all along, you know it's impossible, the premise is ridiculous. Yet you were the one that programmed tree diagram to come up with that silly little idea."**  
**

**"**Because it was never supposed to happen," Aleister explained in his ever-calm voice, "If people knew the truth about System and Level 6's it would ruin the plan. They needed to think that Level Six was something that could be obtained. So I programmed tree diagram to give out an answer if it was every asked, but I made sure that it was an impossible feat, slaying almost 200 other Level 5's. There will never be that many at one time so I had thought that would be the end of their search. It was not expected that they would find a way to produce more."**  
**

**"**And yet they did," the associate said, "and you knew of it and yet did nothing to stop it, even when 9000 of them had been purposelessly slaughtered. You comfort yourself by saying that it was not your idea, that you did not concoct the plan and simply adapted it to fit your own, but that doesn't change the fact that you let it happen. Do you really think that the world you hope to create will be worth living in? That the little ribbon girl will accept the cost of it all? Do you think she'd be happy to see what her..."**  
**

The person's jaw suddenly evaporated as Aleister's eyes narrowed ever so slightly betraying the violent anger that he had been beginning to feel more and more as the years went on and his plan neared completion. Had the associate still had a mouth there would likely be a grin upon it as once again they caused enough irritation to bring out one of Crowley's few remaining emotions. "Leave," he said simply, his voice almost as calm as ever, but someone with a good enough ear might have been able to discern the slight tinge of ire in his tone.**  
**

Knowing that there wasn't much more fun to be had for a little while yet, the associate left to prepare things as they had been told to.**  
**

For a moment Aleister let his mind wander as he calmed down. Once he had he quashed down any and all emotions and focused his mind again. 'There is too much to do for me to waste time thinking about useless things,' he thought to himself, 'I cannot let myself fail.'

* * *

[1]: Aleister lied to him about the project so this information is false. I know what it is actually about but none of the others do. Not even Oneeni, though she knows that there were more than 10000, she assumed he was simply talking about the ones who were currently alive with known locations.**  
**

[2]: Once again, I did research on this. In real life Aleister Crowley was actually suggested to be part of a plot of the British during the 2nd World War. In real life he wasn't exactly the best soldier material though, but in canon he was powerful at the time, incredibly powerful. It would make sense that he would have been involved, whether by command or by his own authority.

* * *

Author's Note: As you might have noticed from the last part of this chapter as well as the character selections for my story, I'm going to be focusing quite a bit on Aleister as well, going into what his plan and motivations actually are and how the events of the main story were truly seen by him. His plan is mostly speculation so I have quite a bit of wiggle room as I said before. Not only that but I am going to go into the why of things as well. Why does he do it? What does he hope to accomplish? That kind of thing. He really doesn't get enough motivation in canon so I hope that I can fix that and make him a truly interesting and deep character.**  
**And I promise you this... I will try my hardest to make it so that, by the end of the trilogy, my readers will shed tears for him.**  
**Anyway, this is my first OC pseudo-protagonist. I wanted to give her an interesting background so she would be different from the other clones and actually have a personality, but I was worrying a little bit when I was writing it. I don't want my characters to be too special, especially one who's supposed to be a clone. So what I decided to do was have her have a different environment from the rest . Someone like Oneeni, being a clone with a powerful servile mentality, would be quite impressionable so she took on many quirks from the man who raised her (who I will reveal the identity of later) who himself was pretty much dicking around with her to see if he could make her personality as interesting as possible so he wouldn't be bored (actually that might be a clue who it is in and of itself). **  
**She's there as a support role and really can't solve many problems by herself. She can fight pretty damn well and do things like that but she is hopelessly outclassed by most everyone from the main series. In a theoretical battle against some of the main characters from the main series, she would lose quickly and easily to almost any magician (unless she attacked first in which case… she would win against those who could be killed with a stab through the heart) or any level five except Misaka. She has been specially trained to be able to deal with Misaka so she could probably win, but only because Misaka would hold back against her. She could easily win against weaklings like Motoharu or Touma because… stab (really Touma's easy to win against for someone who doesn't rely solely on their own power and is willing to just shoot him).**  
**About my other OCs, Vyers and Lammington, I accept that they are probably overpowered, but they also don't do anything, and they still aren't nearly as overpowered as a hell of a lot of canon examples. But unlike those examples they won't ever take an active part in the story so being overpowered can be excused.


	5. Toaru Denryoku no Katsuyō

とある電力の活用

Toaru Denryoku no Katsuyō

A Certain Utilization of Power

* * *

**Important Note: Bold text no longer represents The Queen but it does represent something else which is significant.**

* * *

August 9th

* * *

Even after having a night to sleep on it, Kuroko was still quite confused about the whole situation from yesterday. She couldn't argue with the logic or the results of what had happened yesterday, of the plan that Aleister had formulated to allow her to transition in between Shiro and Kuro without betraying her secret to her Onee-sama. It felt wrong but she realized it was ridiculous to turn away something so convenient because of such frivolous rationality.

That's what Kuro told her to think at least and she was never the best at arguing with Kuro. She trusted the little voice in her head to know what was best for her. Kuro always had Kuroko's best interests at heart, though the fact that she didn't have emotions meant that she always put physical safety over emotional safety and preferred emotional stability to happiness.

But despite knowing this Shiro was still very bad at arguing with Kuro's logic or going against her suggestions when Kuro was actually trying to persuade her. So she swallowed the unease she felt and decided to simply reassure and reinforce her dedication to her Onee-sama to make sure that no one would ever doubt her love and devotion.

The only question was how to do that. Compared to devotion, love was an easy thing to show. That's what Kuroko thought at least. Kuroko hadn't felt love or loved for the first twelve and a half years of her life. So when she had decided that she wanted to love Misaka she had decided what that newly declared emotion entailed, having no prior experience.

She had decided that love was partially a carnal and materialistic matter, shown through physical contact and gifts. Another part was the desire for the other person to be safe and happy, to the extent that you would be willing to put your own safety and happiness on the line for them. The last and most important part, however, was dedication.

Love was all about being there for the other person. Never leaving them until they left you. It was everything her parents hadn't shown to her.

However the very definition and soul of dedication meant that it could only be shown by time, and since she wanted to affirm her love immediately she decided to take the first option. So she waited until her Onee-sama was just starting to wake up and began showing her particular brand of affection.

* * *

An oh-so-familiar pressure pressed passionately against Misaka's lips as she was slowly roused from her sleep. A gentle prodding against her lips signaled Kuroko's next move as she slipped her tongue into Misaka's mouth, a bold move for so early on in the morning. Still Misaka decided to let it pass for once and wrapped her arms around the teleporter, one hand entangling itself in the other girl's hair, which was long and free flowing without the ribbons to tie it up, while the other fell upon the familiar spot on the girl's back with its four lines of scarred tissue.

Then the teleporter pulled back slightly, breaking the kiss . Then she leaned back down and whispered into Misaka's ear, "Onee-sama," Kuroko purred seductively.

"Think carefully about your next move, just because I let the kiss slide doesn't mean I'm giving you permission for anything," Misaka warned, knowing that tone of voice and recognizing the danger, hoping to defuse it before she stepped over the line.

Then Kuroko turned over in Misaka's grasp, facing away from her now, "your move" the teleporter said.

Misaka sighed, trying to bury her embarrassment with exasperation, "it's too early in the morning for this Kuroko." Despite her words the hand that had been on her back went to its usual place on the younger girl's chest, just over her heart, feeling the steady rhythm, B-Ba Bum.

"That's fine, you don't have to do anything you don't want to," the teleporter assured her roommate, "I'm yours to do with as you please, even if that means nothing."

The electro-master smiled. Why couldn't Kuroko always be like this: passive and non-pressuring. She was so much easier to handle like this.

Misaka's arms squeezed the other girl closer to her. Though she was laying completely on top of her she was very light. Looking at her or lifting her up one would think her body composed of just a skeleton with skin stretched on top, but she was far too soft for that.

The older girl was quite bored and it was early in the morning. She didn't have much to do today either so she figured she might as well waste some time here.

Her finger dragged across the other girl's stomach, applying a small electric current as it travelled making the muscles underneath tense and relax. While Misaka practiced her ability regularly on objects, practicing on people was different. Sure she got plenty of practice due to the number of thugs she came across on a regular basis but not quite on a precision basis like this. It was quite interesting to watch and feel the body's reaction towards her subtle electrical shocks, feeling the muscles tense, relax, and spasm and hearing Kuroko's ever-cute reactions as the shocks caused pain, numbness, or pleasure.

She continued this little experimentation until about half an hour later when her stomach grumbled. "Hungry…Onee…Sama…?" Kuroko panted.

"Yeah," Misaka decided, gently pushing Kuroko off herself as she stood and stretched, "I'm feeling like something sweet… do we still have some of that Gekota cereal you bought me the other day?"

"So childish…" Kuroko sighed. In response Misaka slid her electrified hand down Kuroko's spinal cord causing the girl to curl into a ball with a loud, "eep" which took her a few minutes to recover from. When she had recovered and gotten dressed she joined Misaka at the table.

* * *

Several hours after that Kuroko was walking down the street, unfortunately alone now that she had finished her work, her Onee-sama was busy, and he had flown off. But at least this gave her some time to think, so she turned her mind towards other things

Her thoughts turned to how she would deal with the clone in her everyday life... She wondered for a second if she should introduce Oneeni to her Onee-sama but she was unsure about how the original would react. She would try to figure out in the next couple of days how she would feel about the theoretical meeting. If she reacted poorly, saying that she'd never want to meet a clone if she had one, then she would probably wait a while to introduce them, if she ever did. Not only that but she would be sure to keep her existence, as well as the existence of the other clone, a secret from Misaka. If she reacted well she would ask Aleister if she could introduce them.

She had heard that Oneeni was being integrated into normal life along with the other clones, maybe she could join Judgment or something with her, act as her partner on the field.

Of course that raised a problem in and of itself. Whether or not the meeting happened or they became partners in Judgment, she would likely deal with her on a field test basis later on. And if that happened she wasn't sure if Oneeni would be sufficiently protected. Kuroko was always wearing the vest of her armor now (though she was less paranoid than Kuro, Shiro was still an overly cautious individual, having learned that it was often justified in her position) but Oneeni would be unprotected.

Kuroko herself was back in Judgment but at the moment she was off-duty and was simply out on an informal patrol. She had no support from headquarters but she still had the authority. The crime rate had been slowly climbing again as the criminals stopped fearing the scourge and she wondered for a short while whether or not she should do something similar again. Sure she got in trouble last time but she had done a lot of good as well. Still she didn't want to break the rules and wanted even less to deal with Riko again. She had managed to avoid using her underworld resources for the past...

* * *

That's when it hit her. "the past 0 days," she sighed, amending her last thought as she sent a text. She waited for the reply then teleported to a familiar building: Mendeleev Industries headquarters. She teleported down to the lab where she had texted that she would shortly be arriving at and was greeted by the foreign researcher who created her armor. "Q" Kuroko believed his name was, though whether this was some sort of alias or a, god forbid, pun or in-joke, Kuroko wasn't sure.

"Greetings. It's been a while," he said excited, "how's the old girl treating you?"

"Exceptionally, as I've mentioned before. It's been a couple weeks so I thought that you might want to analyze that data that it's collected."

"Yes... good good... though this might be the last time, it's actually quite good you came today you see."

"Why is that?"

"Well we are presenting that data to the people who asked us to create it in the first place in order to try and reobtain the grant so we can actually make the final products that they asked for. Your help is much appreciated, we went through a lot of prototypes and a LOT of money to get this and when the money finally ran out only for the final prototype to be so unfortunately faulty, because someone thought that the autofit mechanism of the original prototype was stupid and a waste of money, we were in a real pickle."

"I'm glad to hear I helped out," Kuroko answered politely, then she got to business, "So you went through a lot of prototypes right?"

"Twenty seven of them to be exact, though most of them weren't full prototypes, we only had four of those," Q explained.

"Did you keep any of them?"

"Only one," Q said with a sigh, "most of them were scrapped but I kept the original. My favorite design that I worked so hard on only to be scoffed away and told to keep more practical. Would you care to see it?"

"Sure, I guess," Kuroko answered. The possibility was promising but the whole practicality issue worried her slightly.

Q led her to his lab and went over to one of the walls to a large safe. He typed in a code 20 characters long into the keypad[1] and suddenly the safe opened revealing a double breasted tuxedo, including an identical pair of sunglasses to hers, dress gloves, shoes, and a watch.

"This is the first prototype. The material is the same as in your armor, though its cloaking ability is limited to changing colour, with built in pads to keep you fully protected all the time. It has many of the same features with several additional ones as well, including that autofit I mentioned earlier. It has several pockets on the inside for additional gadgets as well. It can also function as a wetsuit capable of surviving and protecting against pressures at 100 meter, though you'd need a helmet it has a rebreather disguised as a bowtie which will also protect against gas. The cufflinks are explosive and there's a dagger hidden in the shoe," Q droned on, excitedly. Kuroko could understand why it was seen as impractical as a stealth suit but it was still quite a useful piece of technology that shouldn't have been thrown aside as quickly as it had been. She said as much once he had finished extolling its virtues, finishing with, "and finally it has automatic cleaning mechanisms so that it will be pristine despite the worst conditions."

"I can see why it was rejected for the purpose of a stealth suit but it still could be used for other things."

"I know," Q agreed, "its so annoying. I understand it might have been a little off for its initial purpose but it has other applications as well. But now it just sits in there, never to be used..."

While Kuroko could have simply pointed out to him that he could have gotten it patented and sold it elsewhere she decided that that bit of information would be counterproductive to her purpose, so she simply said, "I agree. I could find a use for it in a second, in fact I think I already know exactly how to use it. I know someone who could use it very effectively, I think they'd really like it and then it would actually see some action."

Q looked at her, intrigued and hopeful, "really? Well... I suppose if you can find a use for it it would be better than just leaving it around here," he smiled, "sure thing. Take it. just promise me that it will see some real action."

"I'm sure it will," Kuroko said with a grin to match.

"So if you could just bring them in or tell me their sizes I'll start getting it fitted and ready to go after I analyze your armor. Pick it up tonight at 7:30 or so ok?"

Kuroko nodded and, from memory, told him her Onee-sama's sizes, adjusted a little so that they would fit Oneeni's slightly larger frame. The teleporter was happy that her plan had worked. Though she had been hoping for a suit like hers that could cloak and all that, she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. It was still great protection and some of the additional gadgets it had might help in the future. Plus it had been free, which was always a plus.

After that she had her suit analyzed and then left. She spent the rest of the day doing Judgment work. At the appointed time she left to get the suit and hid it in her secret place until she left at ten, after her Onee-sama had fallen asleep, to go to her lessons, stopping off to pick up the suit on the way.

* * *

When she arrived her teachers were waiting for her.

"Hello again Kuroko. How are you?" he said, and they exchanged pleasantries. then he asked, "what is that behind your back."

"_A present for Oneeni, where is she?"_ Kuro asked taking over for Shiro, like they had agreed, now that they were at their destination and their lessons would soon be beginning. Shiro had been a bit wary of allowing Kuro to handle giving the present given the dislike she held for Misaka but she had assured Shiro that the pereskia had earned her dislike whereas Oneeni hadn't had enough time for her to like or dislike yet.

Whereas most people allowed their emotions to determine whether or not they liked someone, Kuro did it on a sort of merit system. People who harmed or were mean to Shiro in any way were "deducted points" and Kuro disliked them more, whereas people who helped or were nice to Shiro "gained points" and Kuro liked them more. Oneeni had not yet earned any points either way so she was neutral.

'_Besides,'_ she had reasoned, _'I will be interacting with her more than you will so it would be better to acclimate her to myself rather than you wouldn't it?' _Shiro had expectedly acquiesced to the reasoning, even if it was not her true motive. Her true motive was to prevent Shiro from suffering any further emotional instability from the clone's presence. Now she had no control over her actions and wouldn't suffer nearly as much. Not only that but Kuro could help ensure that Oneeni would not hurt Shiro in other ways as well.

Vyers was about to answer her question though found he did not need to as it was answered the next second when the girl in question came into the room. She looked slightly different from yesterday, as if she had gone to a salon, though not a very good one. Her nails were buffed to a sheen but not painted and her skin looked like she had spent hours taking care of it, which she had. Kuro took a step up to her at Shiro's behest. The teleporter was a little in awe. 'so this is what my Onee-sama would look like if she took a little more pride in her appearance,' she thought as she looked Oneeni up and down.

Though she saw and recognized them as completely different people and Shiro was completely and utterly dedicated to her Onee-sama, she still found Oneeni very attractive. the teleporter was, after all, a Misaka-sexual. Though she found Misaka and only Misaka attractive it still extended to people who looked close enough to her, including her mother who Kuroko had admired in the photographs Misaka had of home. Unfortunately this also extended to Kuro who wasn't immune to lust and, despite her dislike of the pereskia, still found her visually appealing at least.

Then she noticed something, she took the clones hand in her own and looked at it, specifically the palm, noticing the Band-Aid that was on it that had not been there yesterday, _"what happened?"_ she asked.

Vyers answered for her, "She cut her hand on the bathroom mirror. She should be fine, the wound was minor and shallow. Now didn't you have something for her? It would be best if you took care of that now, Lammington is eager to start your lessons."

Kuroko looked over to the white robed individual. His face was completely neutral, '700 years of life would make it hard to get eager over things,' Kuroko supposed, then turned back to Oneeni, _"I have a present for you,"_ she restated and showed her the tuxedo and the accompanying accessories, _"It might look like just some fancy clothes but it's quite utilitarian. It's a suit of armor, very good armor, designed by the same people that made the armor I was wearing yesterday. why don't you try it on?"_

* * *

Oneeni was confused to say the least. She had been treated nicely since the phone call yesterday. She had never been treated like this before. When she had suffered a minor injury yesterday it had immediately been tended to. That didn't happen during her training, which had been done with real weapons and live ammo, unless it was a major injury. The reason she had a scar in the first place was because, when she had been cut during her fencing practice, the scientists had deemed the wound she received too minor to bother fixing up ,causing the rather unattractive scar she now bore.

Now she was getting a gift... while the idea wasn't new to her, her mentor having given her several gifts which had arrived at her new residence just today, he had been the only one to do so.

She looked at her new gift. it was the first time she had ever been given clothes other than those that she wore now, the Tokiwadai uniform that was standard to all clones. She had wanted new clothes so many times before but had never actually received any unless she outgrew the previous ones, and even then only received a resized version. These new clothes were nothing like the uniform she so disliked.

When she was told to try it on she immediately grasped the hem of her vest and began drawing it up for the purpose of taking it off only to be stopped by Kuro's hand. _"Let's do that in your room rather than out here okay?" _she suggested, slightly surprised at the complete lack of shame that Oneeni had, especially when she compared it to her Onee-sama. Kuro looked to Vyers and Lammington, _"I'll return shortly and we'll begin." _After receiving a nod of acknowledgment she turned back to the clone and said, _"lead the way to your room."_

Oneeni did exactly that, leading her to the large bedroom which she had been given yesterday. When she had first received it she had been very surprised at its size. it was at least four times larger than her room back at the lab and even included a small bathroom (the mirror of which had been enchanted by Lammington to ensure it wouldn't break no matter how much she punched it or tried to smash it, something she was both thankful for and annoyed by).

The size of the room drew a stark contrast to its few contents. Against one wall was shepherds crook that her mentor had given to her as a joke. It hid a rapier inside to be used as a weapon. Next to that were her belts of throwing knives, her preferred weapon along with the series of capacitors that she wore on her back that would allow her one single shot at her maximum power before it needed to be recharged. Combined they created an effect similar to the railgun of The Railgun, though because of the larger mass of the projectile along with the lower voltage it would be lucky if it reached 200 meters per second, let alone the 1000 meters per second that the original's could reach. It was enough for her purposes however.  
The only other things were 2 books, a stack of small diary notebooks, and her music player. One was a large leather bound bible, quite old but well preserved given to her by her mentor. She had spent hours poring over this, enthralled by the stories and magnificent imagery. The other was a very small book with perhaps 10 pages with a sky blue cover made of some hard, shiny material. This again had been a gift from her mentor. He had given it to her with the words, "If you are ever in trouble just place your spare rosary in your hand, count off the beads read the first half aloud, if that doesn't work throw the rosary on your wrist onto the ground and read the second half aloud. Then close your eyes until the screams stop." Then he had chuckled.

The diary notebooks were her field journals which she used to record the growth of the clones that she looked after as well as their fates, if that was known, and any other particular quirks of the individual clones, like 9982's love of tea, or 7763's obsession with poetry, or 11342's fear of spiders. She liked to keep track of how the clones were unique, it made her feel better about herself to know that even among 20000 identical beings there were still differences.  
The music player was completely normal.

* * *

Now that they were in the clone's room, Kuro closed the door, looked around, then sat down on the bed, placing the tuxedo beside her. "Undress now, slowly if you would," she said her voice commanding but it hadn't been a command.

Still Oneeni followed it as obediently as she would any order. Slowly pulling up and taking off her vest then beginning to unbutton her shirt. Is it really necessary for you to be in here for this. Shiro said, uncomfortable with being in her like this. She was devoted to her Onee-sama and her Onee-sama alone and every little bit of attraction that she felt for someone else made her feel guilty.

"_Yes," _Kuro responded, causing Oneeni to stop as she was slipping off her shirt and look at Kuro. _"I apologize, I was talking to Shiro. I may do that occasionally, but I will attempt to make it clear that I am doing so as not to confuse you or the others. You may continue."_

Oneeni nodded and discarded her shirt onto the floor the slid her skirt down her ankles.

Hmm... Shiro began as Kuro looked Oneeni up and down, They are more mature than Onee-sama's underwear but they don't really suit her, perhaps we can go shopping for some better lingerie, and some more casual clot- wait, what is she doing? Stop her!

The action that was causing Shiro to react as such was Oneeni unclipping her bra. With Kuro's studying gaze she had forgotten that she was getting changed and assumed that she was receiving a physical exam again.

Though she had been deemed a failure she had still been studied quite a bit by the scientists, receiving several physical and mental exams every month to study the effectiveness of the cloning process and analyzing for any long term effects that the clones might suffer. While the scientists hardly had to worry about it considering no clones would live very long, it was still a matter of satisfying their natural thirsts for knowledge. So she followed the process she had always followed for physical exams, undressing fully and slowly turning around.

Kuro did not follow Shiro's request and stop it however. in a sense Oneeni was right in her assumption. Kuro was indeed curious to see if she had any other injuries, scars, or deformities on the rest of her body. After extremely close scrutiny Kuro determined that she did not, though it was more evidence of her lack of shame, a property that Kuro actually preferred given that most of the pereskia's violence was out of anger which came from embarrassment which came from the electro-master's particularly strong sense of shame.

Only when Oneeni began going through basic movements as she had had to for the physical exams did Kuro speak up, _"What are you doing? You're supposed to be getting changed, so if you would kindly put your underwear back on. Also Shiro wanted to know if you would like to go out shopping with her for some better underwear. She is somewhat of a connoisseur of lingerie."_

Oneeni remembered her original intent and pulled on her underwear again. these too had been standard issue so she would prefer to get some more but... she had never been shopping before. She was vaguely familiar with how it worked (something to do with plastic rectangles and money). She did wonder what it was like and the opportunity to get more things was appealing though. So she nodded as she clipped her bra again.

Kuro handed her the pants of the tuxedo and she put it on, then the other girl got up and helped her put on the shirt, the vest, and the jacket then helped her tie the bowtie.

Kuro then stepped back to view the results. _"You look quite good. Though the real question is functionality. But that would best be tested later. I have kept my teachers waiting long enough."_ she said, her voice not betraying even a hint of the lust that was coursing through her system. Had it been the original and had Shiro been in control, Kuro somewhat doubted that the pereskia could escape.

The personality in question was currently debating, given this new information, whether it would look better for Misaka to wear the tuxedo at their wedding rather than the dress. The fantasy helped her block out the confusion she felt.

* * *

Kuro went back into the main room, the now sharply dressed clone on her heels. She then sat down in a chair and said, _"I am ready now."_

"That is good to hear. i trust that you do not need a review of the things we have already covered."

"_Correct. My memory is near perfect when it comes to things related to the pereskia or things related with my debt. These lessons are the first step of paying off my debt so I remember them perfectly, for better or worse."_

"Good then let us begin with practical magic," Lammington said with a smile and a nod offering her a cup of tea, it was red and tasted slightly bitter but it was not unpleasant and it made her feel stronger, "I will fill you in on the history where it comes up naturally."

"Magic can be divided into 3 categories each working with a different though similar principle; mana channeling, elemental magic, or charm based magic. As I said before there are 10 elements, 5 each for western and eastern magics, though east and west both have fire and water so there are only 8 unique ones. Eastern has fire, water, wood, metal, and void. Western has fire, water, air, earth, and ether. Since you are a void magician you are unable to cast any type of elemental magic other than void magic though, due to Angel Fall, other types of magicians may cast spells any type of elemental spell." Lammington explained then waited for questions or an acknowledgement of understanding.

"**Whereas Void magic draws power from the energy released by the fall of the angel Samael, the Western elemental magicians draw power from the various heavenly angels while the Eastern elemental magicians draw power from earthly energy, meaning they are generally weaker though more versatile."**

Now Kuro nodded to Lammington who continued, "Charm based magic uses Idol theory, which uses the idea that a replica has part of the original's power. It isn't too well understood but if you have any questions I will try to answer them.'

"**Not understood by some at least... The basic idea of Idol theory is trying to create an exact copy of something to fool the angelic register which is a collection of the exact co-ordinates, properties, and nature of all things in the solar system granting effective omniscience. Though because Samael fell without being recycled there is a hole that can be exploited, allowing you to trick the angelic register into thinking one thing is another, granting various properties depending on how it is used. It is also the basis of enchanting and in a sense elemental magic as well."**

Looking back to Lammington Kuro said, _"No questions."_

"Good. Now there is also one final type, mana channeling. this is what we will start with. It can be done with only the energy which is contained within the body itself and be used to create a variety of effects. Such as this," he said and channeled his magic into a shield similar, though far more powerful, to the one Kuro had created yesterday, "You have a considerable amount of magic however, which is a hindrance to the ability to channel it at lower levels."

"**Mana channeling is quite precise** the **so** reason **having **for-"

Kuro raised her hand, _"One at a time please..."_

Lammington raised his eyebrow, "I am the only one speaking..."

Kuro pointed at her head, "schizophrenia. To me you aren't the only one talking."

* * *

Despite Aleister's claim that she wasn't actually schizophrenic and the fact that the mental damage from the Queen had cleared up, Kuroko still heard voices in her head beyond Kuro's. She still had persistent delusions and hallucinations, as she was likely having right now. The old raspy voice that belonged to the small black bird perched on the headrest of the chair Lammington sat at was another voice that had been bothering her for a while. Though she didn't really mind. She spoke to him sometimes, telling him about her day and the weirdness she was experiencing now that speaking to Kuro about that kind of thing was pointless.

Contrary to her initial assumptions she had made a couple of weeks ago, Prometheus was actually quite eloquently spoken, though only when he was showing off his extensive knowledge, otherwise he didn't use many words. She wasn't really surprised about his knowledge though, after all he was another hallucination (as had been proven the other day when he had perched on Uiharu's head without a reaction from either her or Saten, who had also been there) so of course he would know about the details of her other hallucinations.

"Very well... in any case, mana channeling is more about precision than power, so while your high mana levels are good for your regeneration ability, they will hinder your ability to perform other magic. This can be solved with practice though, so let us begin practicing. Show me what you can do."

Kuro obliged, showing the shield that she had managed to produce.

"Not the sturdiest thing but the shape is very good. That is actually one of the most basic spells of Void magic and has uses far beyond simply being a shield. Manipulation of the shape allows it to be used as all kinds of things. So let us begin with that."

Lammington taught her, with Prometheus's help, how to create and manipulate her mana to form stronger shields in different shapes. While she made little progress in the former the latter was incredibly easy to her. Because of all the calculus she had studied she knew shapes and graphs very very well. Much like she had initially thought of the magic of the shield as a calculus equation she found she could easily manipulate the shape by simply altering the equation she plugged in. She found she could create literally any shape as long as she could figure out the equation to plug in and any equation could be plugged in to get a shape, though many of them failed either due to lack of power/space or because they didn't create an enclosed shape. Still, the potential intrigued her, even more so when Lammington told her, "Mana can also be channeled into a piece of rune paper to lengthen the effects. Meaning that you don't need to maintain concentration and flow constantly to produce the effects. However any sort of shield created like this would be incredibly weak so for this it isn't too useful, but it does last far longer, days at a time, so we will still practice it." he got out rune paper and showed her how to use it.

That is when she had an idea. She created a shape with the graph 1/X with a domain of X greater than 1 then rotated it around the X axis. It was a shape called Gabriel's horn and one that couldn't exist in nature due to its odd property of having infinite surface area but finite volume. She was surprised to see that it worked. It took up very little room and seemed somewhat unremarkable, but to Shiro it was perfect.

She told Lammington that she was going to try and test if it would last if she turned back into an ESPer and test something out at the same time. He gave her the go ahead and she kissed Oneeni to transition back to Shiro. The trumpet remained in the same place like she had expected and she touched the couch, "mind if I borrow this for a second, I want to try something out."

She was met by odd looks from Lammington and Vyers but they agreed, if just to satisfy their curiosity. She touched the couch and suddenly it disappeared. The difference was that it did not appear elsewhere.

Void magic created an area of space where things couldn't change. this meant that Kuroko's power of teleportation couldn't actually teleport something into the field of effect. When something attempted to teleport into something like that it would stay in the other dimensions and fail to materialize, though it would probably make a hell of a light show. However Kuroko's power was different, she could actually move an objects existence, meaning if she tried to teleport something into a space affected by void magic the object would instead envelope the space, spreading along the entire area of the magical shape, though it would only do so as long as the shape existed and once it collapsed, or once Kuroko teleported it somewhere else, it would go back into its regular shape and return to the area it was teleported from or to its new destination. However if the shape it was teleported onto had infinite surface area it would be spread over an infinite amount of space, effectively never forming and eliminating it practically from existence until she returned it to the way it was before.

She returned the couch to its position and Kuro took over again, thanking them for their patience before continuing on with their lesson until finally it was time to go. She borrowed some rune paper for creating a few more of Gabriel's horns, which she decided to experiment more with tomorrow.

* * *

[1]: the code is 19621973198619952005 in case you were curious. Some people might be able to figure out exactly what it is.

* * *

Author's Note: If you asked someone who played D&D what their most valued item was they would probably talking about their +5 vorpal sword or something similar, but I personally see the most valuable magical item as the bag of holding.  
The most annoying things to deal with in a game or story are travel time and encumberance, but overcoming these do not necessarily grant more power, just make things easier and more convenient in a story format, so when I introduce methods to solve these problems know that I am not trying to grant Kuroko more power, but rather I am trying to eliminate something which is otherwise a pretty big inconvenience.


	6. Toaru Jun'i no Juyo

とある順位の授与**  
**

Toaru Jun'i no Juyo**  
**

A Certain Bestowal of Rank

* * *

August 10th

Kuroko frowned as her Onee-sama left her with Uiharu in Judgment headquarters, ruining her plan for a shopping date with her in lieu of some boring investigation about something that she didn't consider important. Considering the recent discovery she had made in her secret place she had no right to complain about Academy City's scavenging laws and the whole thing wasn't even illegal. She agreed to investigate but she decided that investigation would simply be a passive, by-ear, kind of thing.**  
**

Now she just needed something else to do. Considering it she wondered if she should visit Oneeni and see if she would go shopping with her. She wanted to pick her out some more clothes and she might as well do so today. So she went over to Lammington and Vyer's apartment and knocked on the door. **  
**

She was greeted warmly by Lammington who invited her in and offered her a cup of tea. **  
**

**"**Sure," she agreed. Though the tea was bitter it did help fuel her magic and, as Lammington repeatedly stressed, that was important to do, "I'm here to see if Oneeni wants to go shopping? Is she available?"**  
**

**"**No she is not. She received a call a short while ago and left immediately after that."**  
**

**"**I see, is Vyers with her?"**  
**

**"**No. He is at a bar, "partying". Since our lessons are at night he has been complaining that he has not been out in too long and decided to go during the day."**  
**

**"**I see... will Oneeni be back soon?"**  
**

**"**Yes. In the meantime I'd like to ask you about yesterday's lessons. You seemed excited near the end, after you teleported the couch away. Would you care to fill me in on what caused your excitement?"**  
**

**"**Oh, sure. Simply put I found a way to store things within an infinitely small amount of space. It's quite convenient as it allows me to carry around as much as I want, though sorting through things to retrieve them is a little more complicated so I keep important stuff separate so I can access it immediately. Like so," she said as her armor suddenly appeared on her body, then disappeared, "The other advantage of that is that it allows me to access them as Kuro without spilling everything out over the ground, though I can't put it back without switching back to Shiro so I'll have to be careful with it."**  
**

**"**Indeed, that does sound convenient. It sounds like quite a trick for someone so new to this," the white robed man told her as he gave her some tea.**  
**

**"**It was a simple calculus equation, nothing more. All I did was integrate my ESPer power with my "magic"" she said, taking a sip.**  
**

**"**That is an intelligent thing to do. I have done something similar, consorting with Vyers to help make my magic more efficient and vice versa. That is the reason that ESPer Magician hybrids are so desired by various people. Unfortunately it is impossible because Mana and AIM are naturally exclusive so integration causes considerable bodily harm."**  
**

**"**Hmm? Then how can I do so?" she asked.**  
**

**"**You can't. you are either a magician or an ESPer, never both, which is why you can cast spells without hurting yourself," Lammington told her, "still interesting and probably unique but not quite a perfect hybrid."**  
**

**"**I see... I had another question. If I regenerate why do I still have my scars and a few scratches?"**  
**

**"**Technically it is not regeneration. Void magic is all about stagnation, keeping one thing in the same state no matter what. When a person becomes a void magician their body is set to its default state, a state that it will stay in and return to if change is forced upon it. If I were to cut your arm off you would not grow a new one, but rather the cells and particles from your arm would return to you, assuming you did not die of blood loss in the meantime. The stump would regrow into a new arm while the chopped off arm would disappear at the same rate. The time that this would take depends upon a few things such as the proximity of the lost limb and how far destroyed it is. A disintegrated arm would heal quicker than a chopped off one because the particles have already split apart so could return more easily. The downside of this is that any injuries which you had while you became a void magician will remain forever, impossible to be healed, naturally or artificially… With one exception. My mentor Az, Heaven Canceler I believe you know him as, seems to be capable of the feat for reasons I never fully understood.**  
**

**"**Wait… Heaven Canceler was your mentor?"**  
**

**"**Yes, 700 odd years ago when I accompanied a young Italian explorer named Marco Polo to China. We were attacked and I was injured. I thought I was going to die but when I woke up there was a man who called himself Iron-Crutch Li who had healed my wounds. Since Marco's caravan was long since gone I decided to stay with him, learning medicine and helping him treat others. He taught me void magic and the method by which I may maintain it without suffering from Mercury poisoning. A while after that he suddenly disappeared. Shortly after that I migrated back to my homeland of France, taking these little flowers with me where I cultivated them. I remained there until I met him again some 60 years ago when I moved here to help set up Academy City with him and Aleister."

**"**That's quite amazing, I'm sure you have quite a few stories to tell," Kuroko said then she heard the door open and close, "perhaps later you can tell me about some of them. But until then I'll see you."

* * *

Roughly half an hour ago Oneeni had been making her way through the subway tunnels that ran under the city, her music blasting in her ears as she skirted along the electrified rails at high speed using her power. She had received orders to intercept the clone she had left behind, MISAKA9982, who had not been caught yet by the scientists. It was easy enough to figure out where she was given that she had a tracker on her like the rest of them (making it even odder that the scientists had yet to catch up to her). However she had been told to keep out of sight, hence why she was going via the underground route rather than the power lines or above ground monorail tracks which were both more efficient for travelling places than this method. When she got close she would resurface and deliver her orders to the other clone.**  
**

However she had not been given orders to return the lamb to the labs, oddly enough, or to escort her the rest of the way to the initial destination, but rather to order her to do a meaningless task, wiping some data from some place called the 7th medical center.**  
**

At least it was something to do. She had been quite bored recently. Before she had always been kept busy but now she had nothing to do but train, listen to her music, and tend to her appearance, and those got boring quickly if she did nothing else.**  
**

She finally arrived at her destination, the closest above-below ground transition point to the clone, and traveled the rest of the way on foot, following the tracker. Soon she came into sight of the clone, who was on the roof of a building chasing the same cat who was running away from her, leaping from the roof of one building to the other, followed soon after by MISAKA9982. Unfortunately the clone was not quite as good a jumper as the feline and her leap fell short, sending her tumbling to the ground. Oneeni reacted immediately in response, running at top speed to catch the girl just as she hit the ground.**  
**

After standing up and helping the other girl up as well the other clone said, "Are you okay, asks the shepherd says MISAKA9982 as she nods to signal that she is."**  
**

**"**Onee-chan looks different MISAKA9982 continues, surprised at Onee-chan's new clothing."**  
**

**"**Thank you says the shepherd says MISAKA9982 as Onee-chan brushes the dust off of her clothes then proceeds to do the same to MISAKA9982."**  
**

**"**I have new orders for you so play with the cat later says the shepherd says MISKA9982 while listening intently to her Onee-chan."**  
**

The younger clone proceeded to narrate her own orders as well as her acknowledgement thereof before leaving. When she was out of sight Oneeni sighed and wrote the experience down in one of her notebooks, then headed back to the apartment.**  
**

* * *

She was surprised, upon her return to see Kuroko waiting for her.**  
**

**"**Hey there," the teleporter said, smiling at the other girl, "Want to go shopping?" the other girl nodded, her eyes betraying an eagerness the rest of her face didn't show. "Ok then, let's go," she said, grabbing onto the girl's hand and teleporting away. She decided to go to another district to shop. Ever since she had met Oneeni she had begun to hear rumors about clones of Misaka, the majority of which were unsurprisingly on Riko's websites, so she decided it would be best not to fuel those rumors. So the two went halfway across the city to shop, an act which took quite a while even with teleportation.**  
**

They had a fun time and shopped around a bit, picking out several pairs of more attractive underwear for Oneeni (taking perhaps a little longer than was strictly necessary for modeling purposes) then stopping by another clothing store to pick out some more casual outfits. However Oneeni told her that she was happy with the gift that she had received yesterday and that she didn't need any more clothes. The gifts she was already receiving were already beginning to overwhelm her. She had never had to pick out her outfit before and fashion was the one aspect of personal appearance that still confused the otherwise vain and appearance-conscious clone. But Kuroko insisted that they at least window shopped and said that she didn't mind buying anything that caught her eye.**  
**

Eventually something did. It was a satin lined fedora that she decided would suit her current outfit. Kuroko bought her a couple of them, more indulging herself than Oneeni. She figured that as long as she was admiring the clone's handsomeness rather than sexual appeal it wouldn't be cheating.**  
**

After their shopping trip she brought Oneeni back to the apartment and told Lammington that she would return at the normal time.**  
**

**"**Actually Aleister wished to talk to you before our lessons so you should proceed to the place you met him before," Lammington told her before she left, relaying the news he had heard about in the interim.

* * *

Kuroko nodded then left to go back home. Surprisingly her Onee-sama was not back home yet. Worse, she was not back as the curfew drew near and passed. the time came for her to leave and she was still not back.**  
**

She was slightly worried about her but she knew she could take care of herself, and the tracker was moving back towards their dormitory so she supposed she was alright. But she would not return before Kuroko needed to leave.**  
**

Kuroko took out the piece of charm paper she had gotten a couple nights ago from the ninjas. Perhaps if she had magic she could use it but she didn't and going to the place that she had met Aleister the first time required teleportation so she couldn't very well switch now. So she simply sighed and left, hoping that her Onee-sama would simply assume she was working late or that she had gone off to try and find the electro-master or something. After that she headed off to the windowless building she had been told to go to.**  
**

**"**You wished to see me Aleister-sama?" Kuroko said, kneeling in front of the tank in which he floated.**  
**

**"**Indeed child, there is something very important we must discuss. As you probably guessed already your tutelage in magic is not what I intended you to pay off your debt with," he said then paused, "Academy City is in a precarious position right now. It is too young and too small to have allies but at the same time it is powerful enough that it is gaining enemies quickly. We isolate ourselves because of the risks involved with association, but this cannot continue forever. We need a diplomat, we need a guardian, we need a symbol, we need a knight," he turned to look at the girl in front of him, "and you will be that knight."**  
**

The words both shocked and enthralled Kuroko, "Why me? I am not fit to be a knight, let alone a representative of this city."**  
**

**"**Why you?" Aleister repeated, "Several reasons, chief among those your dual nature. Science and magic are separate entities, separate worlds. They should not interact. But if I have an agent who is both an ESPer and a magician I can deal with any situation that comes my way without having to juggle the balance of the two worlds. Second is the fact that I can trust you and you alone to do what I need you to do. Everyone else has divided loyalties, ulterior motives, or is otherwise uncontrollable. But you… The only loyalty you have above mine is to the Railgun, a loyalty I doubt will ever conflict, you have no ulterior motives, and most importantly, I can simply ask you to do something and expect it to be done as I said in the most efficient manner possible. That is a rare quality, and one that I need in someone so important to my plan."**  
**

Indeed the girl in front of him was the perfect pawn in many ways. Unlike Touma, Aleister did not need to manipulate the situations and surroundings to get her to do his bidding. He simply had to tell her to do so and she would. She trusted him completely and would follow any order as long as it did not involve killing. She had no sense of self so wouldn't care about danger and was conscious enough of others that she would minimize collateral damage. She would be the perfect back up if things got out of hand and would be excellent at fixing the holes that were produced by any unexpected variables messing with his calculations. More importantly she could do all the things he could not trust to others. After all, the child in front of her would never betray him… not his-**  
**

**"**What exactly does my new position entail?" Kuroko asked, doubting that her visions of dragon slaying and rescuing princesses would be her actual objectives.**  
**

**"**Many things, some of which even I do not know of yet. You will do whatever needs to be done shy of assassination, which I can assure you I will never ask of you."**  
**

**"**I will do as you ask Aleister-sama, I will work hard and protect Academy City and all its inhabitants. Just tell me what to do."**  
**

Aleister paused as he gathered his thoughts then continued, "For now you will need to have all the necessary information uploaded. For this purpose I have installed a Testament machine in the corner of this room so that this process may be sped up. A direct link to Oak will allow the process to be done if far less time than usual."

**"**Oak?"

**"**Oak I, the third and most powerful incarnation of the Tree Diagram Supercomputer. Since the first was decommissioned and the second was destroyed it is the only functioning model and is kept safely within this building."**  
**

**"**Ok. I have heard of these Testament machines before," Kuroko said, remembering a vague mention of it that the stripper lady had made during the Level Upper case, "but how do they work?"**  
**

**"**That is an altogether more difficult explanation. Tell me do you believe in angels?"**  
**

**"**No, but I don't believe in any of this so that's not surprising."**  
**

**"**I suppose. Anyway angels do not speak the language of humans. They speak angelic. But there are actually two different types of angelic language," Aleister began, and then paused as he thought of the best way to inform the teleporter of the complexities of the universal workings. He was slightly surprised when the girl started speaking on her own though.**  
**

**"**I'm aware. The angelic language of existence and the angelic language of perception. Both have a different angelic register but whereas the register for the language of existence contains the position and properties of all particles within the solar system the register for the language of perception simply contains all information which is perceived by sentient beings throughout history."**  
**

Aleister looked at her. That particular information had been passed down to him and him alone and he had not told anyone nor planned to tell anyone the specifics of it, so the fact that she knew was… suspicious. "Where did you learn that?" He questioned.**  
**

**"**A little bird told me, but I don't understand how that relates."**  
**

While this was hardly a specific answer it did help assure him of his suspicions, 'I shall need to talk to him later and ensure that he does not leak too much confidential information,' he reminded himself then continued, "the angelic language of perception is perceived using all 5 senses and can be used to implant knowledge, both the mental aspect as well as muscle memory and even personality, into a person. Today you will spend the rest of the night within it learning as much as you can about things which will come in handy for the future however given the nature of the machine it is hazardous to implant too much so most mission specific information will be uploaded separately beforehand.

Kuroko nodded and walked over to the machine that lay in the corner. "What will you be uploading?"**  
**

**"**For now the basics. Political, diplomatic, military, and economic theory and the current state of how Academy City fits into the world. Your first assignment, which will take place in two days, will involve our diplomatic relationships, so that is the current focus. As I said before Academy City has few allies, only 10 cities claim allegiance to us and all but three of those fall under the sovereignty of another country so they would not support us if push came to shove. There are, however, 18 other potential candidates for allies spread around the world. It will be your duty to convince them to join us through whatever methods you wish to utilize. This will put us on stronger grounds politically."**  
**

**"**Later on," Aleister continued, "you will likely have to deal with internal measures as well but for now your focus will be primarily external matters, which actually brings me to a decision I would like you to make. Academy City's aircraft are the fastest in the world, capable of going many times the speed of sound. However it will still take time to travel from one place to another. There is, however, a faster method that only you are capable of."**  
**

**"**Teleportation? While it is faster for an instantaneous motion overall it is much slower so I don't see how that could be faster for distance travel."**  
**

**'**We are currently designing a system that will allow a network of computers," 'or clones' the white haired man added in his mind, "to allow ESPers which have lost their power due to brain injury to regain use of it. Currently there is nothing more than a prototype however, a small chip capable of doing very little. If you agree you can go to Heaven Canceler immediately and he will perform the surgery. Installed within yourself it can allow you to teleport an estimated 1000 times per second, however it can only be programmed with two points to allow a round trip. It would be useless in combat or any situation other than long distance travel due to the nature of your power. Furthermore all trips would need to be pre-programmed with Oak and must both begin with and end with a specific location, meaning you must return to the exact point you arrived at when you wish to return. Still it will allow you to travel to your destination and back in less time than a plane flying at over 250 times the speed of sound. Know that I am not pressuring you to do so however." he added, knowing that the doctor would refuse to implant it if he did not think that the girl had made the decision on her own and he did not trust any other doctor to perform such a delicate operation.**  
**

**"**If it will better allow me to do my job then I agree," Kuroko said without hesitation. She finally had a chance to make a difference, a real difference beyond anything she could have hoped for in Judgment or something similar and anything which could help her be better, more useful, more able to repay her debt to Aleister and to the universe, anything like that would be worth at least a try. If it failed the worst thing that would happen is that she died, and her own life was not very high on Kuroko's list of priorities, "Should I go now or should I go once I'm done with the Testament." **  
**

**"**Later but before Testament, there are still things you must know. First of all know that you are a symbol who is representing Academy City. It is tantamount that you maintain that symbolism so there is something I have for you to do exactly that," he said as a suit of armor appeared before the kneeling girl. It was an intimidating suit of plate mail, very similar to those of cavaliers of old except jet black instead of shining silver, "Symbols are to be powerful, able to resonate with people. You will need to be a pillar of strength, both physical and moral, which is why I have selected the particular moniker that I endowed upon you. Knights are well known symbols already hence your newly endowed moniker. But though you must be a beacon at the same time you must be a shadow. Your missions and identity must not be known, except to perhaps a few, in order to preserve the meaning and impact of the symbol. You are to be the Black Knight of Academy City, nothing more." Aleister told her.**  
**

A knight, he thought, was the best symbol after all. In his early years he had regarded knights quite highly, perhaps more highly than the teleporter herself, putting their value even above queens and princesses in his Thoth Tarot deck. The Anglican and Roman Catholic churches both had their own orders of knights as well, so it was an even more fitting title for his own enforcer.**  
**

**"**I thank you for your kind gift," Kuroko said, referencing the armor, "but my fighting sytle isn't exactly compatible with such a bulky piece of equipment."**  
**

**"**There is no need to worry about that. It is a suit of my own design. It has very little actual substance, as you will learn once you put it on, but will help protect you against the more... unpleasant spells. However against normal, non-magical things your current armor would be best."**  
**

**"**Yes Aleister-sama," she said, storing the armor in a separate horn charm then kneeling again and bowing her head to the floor, "anything else you wish of me?"**  
**

**"**All in time child. Go to Heaven Canceler and I will see you tomorrow for the data upload, until then stay safe," he said.**  
**Still the girl did not disappear, "is there something further you would like to know child?"**  
**

**"**It's just out of curiosity... but you said the first tree diagram was decommissioned, and the second was destroyed correct?'**  
**

**"**Yes. Did you wish to know more?"**  
**

**"**If it wouldn't be too much trouble."**  
**

**"**In a sense it would but that does bring up another matter. The matter is classified so only certain people can be given the information. Many things you need to know are the same way. Given your new rank it would be inconvenient if certain information was blocked from you. I can take you at your word that you will not share anything important because of your loyalty and the fact that you still seem to think that this is a delusion," he thought for a second and then decided, "you are hereby named Chief of Intelligence for Academy City. A courtesy title, but one that will ensure you have both authority and access when you need it. Just be sure to keep it quiet unless I give direct approval otherwise. For obvious reasons you may tell the clone."**  
**

**"**Oneeni," Kuroko informed him.**  
**

Aleister nodded then continued, "Though it is not immediately relevant I suppose it could not hurt to tell you about the Tree Diagrams. You see Tree Diagram II, Orihime I, was an attempt to analyze things on a larger scale than its predecessor. It specialized in micro-systemic interactions and could, by analyzing the position of a number of particles, directly calculate the behavior of those particles for an indefinite period of time. It also specialized in calculating theoretical system paths, able to find solutions to problems by testing each path individually. It was destroyed a short while ago due to... an intentional even for Academy City space travel is difficult so it will be quite a while before we are able to retrieve some of the larger sections."**  
**

**"**But what about Tree Diagram I?" Kuroko asked, urging him to answer her initial question.**  
**

**"**Willow I specialized in macro-systemic interaction and was capable of predicting things such as economic and military actions with incredible precision. It also specialized in data analysis, when coupled with the now mostly outdated UNDER_LINE network. But it could do very little with that data itself beyond pattern recognition. It was decommissioned 2 years ago when Oak I, Tree Diagram III, was completed seeing as it could replicate all the functions of both I and II. It is, however, kept secret so that it's power may not be abused. This is the reason why I let Orihime I be destroyed. Now almost everyone thinks that there is no longer any Tree Diagram supercomputers, which is the way it should be."**  
**

**"**Wait, why did you decommission I, why didn't you destroy Willow like you did with Orihime?"**  
**

**"**Willow was functional for almost 60 years and in that time it developed something akin to a consciousness, artificial intelligence or something similar. It was too valuable to destroy but I also needed to stop people from accessing it, so I decommissioned it and sealed the area where it was kept. When this coming ordeal is over I will likely recommission it and study the artificial intelligence further but right now I have no need of that particular research."**  
**

Kuroko nodded, "Thank you for enlightening me Aleister-sama. I will take my leave now," she said and disappeared.

* * *

Author's Note: To any readers who happen to be good at drawing I have a little request. I'd like to have an image for this story like I had for my last story, but this time I'd like a customized picture, one of Kuroko kneeling before Aleister as happened in this chapter. So if someone could draw something like that for me and PM me I'll be happy to give you my email so you can send me the picture and I can use the image for my story (credit of course will be given).**  
**

Usually in stories the protagonist is a free agent who is not under the orders of anyone, rather just stumbling upon their destiny and accidentally changing the course of history. If they are part of an organization chances are that the orders they receive will either be vague so the protagonist can go about his orders in his own way (such as James Bond), or that the organization becomes their enemy and they fight against it. In my story Kuroko follows orders, that is all. She is nowhere accidentally and does few things of her own volition. But at the same time this justifies my ability to put her into anywhere I want without it being serendipity (like Touma apparently has in series, though my theory is that most of his actions are manipulated).**  
**

By the way, I know this is going very slowly, by the sixth chapter of my previous book I had already finished an arc, was moving onto the second, and had already had a lot of action. This one has been mostly introduction, interaction, and explanation. Even worse this will probably cause quite a bit of whiplash next chapter when I will get into the action and from then on it will be more and more action. But please bear with me.**  
**

* * *

Coming Soon: A show of force and faces, the true identity of the masters of medicine and men


	7. Toaru Saisho no Shimei

とある最初の使命

Toaru Saisho no Shimei

A Certain First Mission

* * *

August 11th, 10:00 pm

Once again Kuroko found herself teetering on the brink of happiness and sadness as she teleported to the windowless building.

On the sadness side she had successfully managed to steer a conversation with her Onee-sama in the direction of clones and had gotten her opinion of having one. unfortunately she had said that she would be disgusted by it and would never want to meet one, despite all the hype that Kuroko had produced for why a clone would be a great thing.

On the happiness side her Onee-sama had been in an exceptionally good mood today meaning she was especially receptive to her advances, a fact she had taken full advantage of. Today she wore her newest electrical burns with pride, her face flashing a lecherous grin as she went over and over the memory in her head.

"We'll be lovers soon," she said happily, "all we need is a nice romantic evening, maybe our six month anniversary to make it even more significant and meaningful, and we'll become one..." she sighed, "I need to do some more research to make sure I don't mess up when the time comes, and of course some more practice with my lovely Onee-sama."

_You say this after a single day where she is in a good mood... It is doubtful that she will continue to be in such a good mood. She is an emotionally fluctuating person. Oneeni is far superior. She is not ruled by her emotions, she listens to others and is willing to obey orders without pride getting in the way, and she seems quite loyal._

"In other words you like her because she is easy to control..."

_I never said I liked her...Not that I don't... She is just preferable to the pereskia and has yet to make an enemy of me._

"She seems nice but she doesn't have much of a personality. That fiery temper and take charge attitude is part of what I love in Onee-sama. Sure I can like Oneeni and I certainly wouldn't mind a threesome if Onee-sama one day warmed up to the idea, but the only one for me in any other sense but physical is the original." She said. Though ten thousand clones really did open some doors in the physical relationship sense she would always need at least one of them to be the original and would need her Onee-sama to consent to any and all actions, lest it be considered infidelity.

Of course this made her even sadder that her Onee-sama had been so repulsed by the idea of clones.

* * *

But for now she shoved those thoughts to the back of her head as she arrived at the tall pillar of white that was her destination. She teleported inside and assumed the same kneeling position as yesterday. "Greetings Aleister-sama," she said in the usual polite, reverent tone that now had perhaps just a hint of the one she had used oh so many years ago when her world had been all princesses and dragons.

"Greetings child, the operation was successful I take it," Aleister asked, though he trusted heaven canceler enough that the question was unnecessary enough. While the old doctor rarely used his immense power to do anything other than heal the sick and injured Aleister could trust him to at least do that very well. His hospital was the second safest place in the city, after the windowless building,

He had only failed Aleister once before.

"Yes sir, though I have yet to test it," was Kuroko's reply.

"That will come in time child, for now I have something else for you," he said as a device and a piece of paper appeared in front of Kuroko who looked at the paper. It was a list of names each with a zero, one, or two next to it. At the top there was a key to these numbers.

* * *

0: Do not engage under any circumstances, escape is first priority.

1: Do not engage unless under direct orders to do so, diplomacy impossible, engage at a distance and finish battle as quickly and mercilessly as possible.

2: Do not engage unless under direct orders to do so, diplomacy possible if target is not openly hostile, if openly hostile engage at a distance and finish battle as quickly and mercilessly as possible.

One-eyed Othinus - 0

Fiamma of the Right - 0

Terra of the Left - 0

Acqua of the Back - 2

Ollerus - 2

Laura Stuart - 2

… there were several more names that she did not recognize, the only two that she did recognize were the last two...

Accelerator - 1

Kakine - 1

They were the top two ESPers, the only ones more powerful than her Onee-sama. She looked to Aleister for some explanation.

* * *

He was happy to give one. "There are people in this world with immense power, power to kill one such as yourself in a millisecond from far beyond your range of effect. While would be easy to defeat them with your power if you could sneak up on them but since that is not always a possibility for you, it is effectively impossible for you to defeat some people and very difficult for you to defeat others. The impossible ones will cause that device to go off when it detects their mana; if that happens you are to run as far and fast as possible regardless of anything else that is going on. Now if you understand that, Testament is ready when you are," he said. Though he knew the character of the girl and doubted she would abandon someone to flee, in those cases the armor that he had given her yesterday would come in handy. It's true function allowed him to take control of the teleporter's body and mind. While he doubted he would need it for its standard function, as a deterrent to betrayal, it would come in handy if she did something too stupid.

"I understand Aleister-sama," she said with a nod, then climbed into the machine after clipping the tiny device to her waist.

Once she had done so Aleister looked on. These were the more sensitive steps, the untested ground. If the chip was a failure it might kill the girl and cause something valuable to be lost to him. It was why he had had Heaven Canceler do the surgery despite his initial reluctance and also why he had had the Testament process done here, so He couldn't interfere.

When Aleister had talked to him yesterday after the child had left scolding him for telling her unnecessary things he had simply smiled, unnaturally happy for such a paltry scolding. It made the magician think that there was something else going on.

Of course it still brought up the question of how he could have done it. Aiwass's power had been drained since Aleister had first met him, he shouldn't be able to manifest in the form of a bird or project his presence to the girl in any other way, so how had he managed to talk to her about all that.

Aleister thought back to their first meeting over a century ago in Egypt. "One day I will betray you, much as you will betray me," he had said all those years ago, "it is the way it has always been and the way things will always be. Subordinates are ambitious, they want power so they will betray their superiors to get that power. Superiors are paranoid, afraid of losing their power, so they will betray their subordinates to maintain their power. Whether you wish to try and control me or you give into my control we will end up betraying each long until that happens depends on how interested you keep me."

Crowley had long since learned the truth behind his words, the greatest lesson coming when the entire side of magic had betrayed him in 1947. Aleister and Aiwass had not yet betrayed each other but it was only a matter of time and Aleister truly hoped that time wouldn't come until after he was done with his plan, or at least the part that hinged on his associate. and he hoped the betrayal didn't involve the child. Ever since that incident four years ago she had been like a piece of ceramic, so useful yet so easy to break. Unlike the others, Touma, Accelerator, and Kakine, Aleister needed to be careful with her. He needed to handle her delicately in order to bring out her full use, and having him interfering wasn't the best thing for now and could cause considerable trouble for both of them.

* * *

Suddenly a noise reverberated throughout the room, the ringing of a telephone. With a nod it stopped and Aleister could both hear and speak through the phone without having to do something so silly as hold it up to his ear.

"Aleister. It's me. We got a little trouble here. The girl I came here to examine, the one rumored to be a gemstone, she wasn't here. I tried to talk to her parents but Mongolian isn't my strong suit. I did understand the words "China", "east", and "one hour ago" though. The mother was crying and making hand signals so I think she was taken. I'll probably need backup, and quick. If the Chinese heard about it the Russians can't be too far behind and the last thing we need is that girl caught up in the crossfire."

Aleister considered the issue. He couldn't send any military forces. Even if they could make it in time such a show of force wouldn't be appreciated against the two superpowers. America was already hostile towards Academy City, the last thing he needed was Russia and China to be hostile as well.

He looked over to the Testament machine and the girl who was inside. It could be a good test for her, and for the chip. The chip was important, it was the prototype for the system that would eventually support Accelerator and if it ended up not working then more research would need to be done. Aleister did a few calculations in his head and replied, "back up will be there in seven minutes."

It would take about half a minute to forty-five seconds of travel time with the chip then five minutes for the data upload. A shallow upload, he decided, would be best not only because of the reduced duration, but also because the knowledge wouldn't last long thus avoiding cluttering up the little girl's brain with things she would only need to know for one mission. that left a minute of buffer time.

He hung up and had Oak stop the current upload and begin uploading mission relevant information instead, local geography as well as the Chinese and Mongolian languages. When that was done he roused her from the machine.

"You have a new mission," he told her, "you are to go to a small village on the northeastern border of mongolia to assist in locating and rescuing a gemstone from there. You will need to go alone and remain an ESPer for the entire duration in order to bring her back with you if necessary. You do not need to maintain your guise as the Black Knight when dealing with the researcher you are to meet with and it would not be beneficial to make your allegiance to Academy City clear to any enemies you meet with either. If you understand you may go when you are ready.

"Yes sir Aleister-sama," she said, bowing, then she disappeared, activating the chip which had been pre-programmed with the trip there and back how she had been told to.

* * *

It was an odd experience for the teleporter. She did not stay in any place for long enough to process any information about her surroundings so she was effectively blind and deaf for the entire duration. The complete lack of sensory information was a little bit unnerving but her brain was too busy processing all of the chip's calculations to notice.

when she finally arrived at her destination she collapsed onto the ground, catching her breath since she couldn't breathe during that entire time either. As she was doing so she heard a familiar voice, **"You arrived safely it seems,"** came the raspy voice of Prometheus as he perched on a nearby tree. The fact that he was here this quickly further reinforcing the idea that he was nothing but a hallucination, **"I'm slightly surprised you did not suffer from Icarus Syndrome attempting something like that, I suppose it is because you weren't there long enough at any point to be affected by it."**

"Ic... arus... Syn... drome?" she panted out the question trying hard to keep from throwing up.

"**Yes, named for the mythological figure who flew too close to the sun and fell because of it. It occurs when an organic being is stuck in a state between existence and nonexistence, such as what happens with your little horn of gabriel trick, or when a mortal glimpses heaven. Their senses get overloaded and they are rendered blind, deaf, and without touch or smell or taste. The sensory deprivation soon drives them insane, especially since time in heaven is a function of energy rather than its own separate entity here and a minute on earth may last a year in heaven. The victims of Icarus Syndrome recover in a couple of days, sometimes at least."**

"So I guess I shouldn't store people eh?" She said finally recovered and now making her way to the rendezvous point.

"**They won't be able to be stored anyway, they will simply reform after about five seconds. If you want to drive them insane for a week with about a fifty percent chance of permanent damage then feel free to do it though."**

"I don't think that would be an okay thing to do," she decided. She had been planning on using the horns as a way to transport criminals so she was slightly disappointed to hear this, and the consequences were too dire to inflict upon a criminal unless they did something like hurt her Onee-sama.

She soon arrived at the round tent-like building where a tall suited man with slicked back brown hair was waiting for her. He looked over at her and frowned, "Who are you?"

"Shirai Kuroko, I was sent by Aleister to assist you."

The frown grew larger, "he sent a kid," the man said, sounding more angry at Aleister's lack of regard for the safety of a child than indignant that she was the only help he had been sent.

Kuroko kept her temper under control, not wanting to offend or insult the man in her anger at being called a child, "I am legally an adult and here of my own free will. I have all the training and knowledge I need and am more capable of assisting you than almost any adult in Academy City."

The man sighed and said, "Well then, why don't you try and speak to the parents and try and get a better picture of what's going on. Hope you can understand a word they're saying, god knows I can't."

"Tere ulu asuudal ayu [1]," Kuroko replied in perfect Mongolian. The words felt odd as they rolled off her tongue, they felt so natural. Kuroko spoke English perfectly and had been fluent since a very young age, but even a language that she had spoken for that long still felt artificial in comparison. She needed to consider her Japanese thoughts and carefully select the English words that matched. But with this the Mongolian flowed off her tongue like water off an eel's back.

Yet despite how natural it felt is also felt weirdly foreign. Though the language was there and easy to utilize she could not truly grasp it. The words would come immediately to mind but she did not truly understand them. Like she was working with an instant translator rather than knowing the language herself.

Still it was enough to work with, so she entered the ger, the tent-like building, and saw a man and a sobbing woman. They looked up at her but there was silence. Kuroko decided to speak first, "My name is Kuroko," she said in Mongolian, "I am here to help find your daughter and bring her to safety. Could you tell me what happened."

"Many men in Chinese military uniforms came an hour ago," said the woman through sobs, "They said words I did not understand and took my little Erdene. I think they brought her to the military outpost just east of here. If you are here to help please bring my little Erdene back to me."

"I will bring her back but know that here might not be the safest place for her to be. I will bring her back but if you wish her to be safe I can bring her to somewhere where she can be safer afterwards."

There was more sobbing then the man said, "We will think about it, but for now please bring our daughter back. We wish to see her again before she leaves."

Kuroko nodded and left. She told the man outside what she had learned then said, "The camp is a little over a kilometer away from here, I will be there and back shortly but I'll need to go alone."

He gave a grunt of acknowledgement and said, "If you're gonna be doing that then I'll handle the cover up here, help ensure that they don't come back to this village and destroy it looking for the girl. If you can could you make it look like she got killed or taken by someone else."

Kuroko nodded and disappeared. Within a minute she was near the camp, surveying it through her glasses.

* * *

The base was heavily fortified and defended being at the vanguard of China's borders with both Mongolia and Russia. A watchtower was at each of the four corners with a guard in each facing outward. Two men guarded the door while four patrols of two men each wandered around the complex keeping an eye out on all sides at once. The guards were heavily armed meaning that, even with her armor and stealth and regeneration, a slip up would mean her death if she did not escape and if she did escape Erdene would probably be put on even higher alert making an already difficult rescue almost impossible.

Kuroko took a deep breath in preparation and waited until the patrols had just barely rounded the corners to give herself more time. Then she teleported to the far end, right behind the two patrols, and dispatched them quickly with her tonfa. Then she teleported herself and them around the next corner and took care of these two in a similar manner. With that done she teleported again, alone this time, to take out the third. Then she walked to the corner, detaching the camera and using it to peek around the corner, watching and waiting until the fourth patrol turned the corner. Since she had moved the bodies of the two patrols from that side around the other corner they didn't see anything or raise the alarm.

This allowed Kuroko to teleport right in front of the other two, taking them out as well. Then she took care of the last patrol. Using her needle trick she disabled all of the watchtower guards from a distance allowing her to enter the building safely.

Unlike the outside the inside of the complex wasn't very heavily guarded. Her glasses and their various scanners were no use against the thick, reinforced concrete, but the acoustics of such a place allowed sound to travel easily throughout, meaning that her helmet's sensitive audio receptors could pick up the sound of a person's heartbeat from a distance. Not a very good distance but enough that she wouldn't get ambushed as she made her way through the halls.

She soon came across the barracks and mess halls and was slightly surprised to see that they were empty. She guessed that all personnel were needed to guard their new acquisition.

At least it gave her an empty room to dump the bodies of any people she came across.

After a few minutes of searching the hallways and 10 unconscious guards (at least that's what they were shortly after Kuroko became aware of their presence) Kuroko made it to the last room. The door was heavy and soundproof so she couldn't sense anyone's presence beyond it with her equipment, so she again unscrewed her helmet's camera and teleported it into the room.

She saw a girl, perhaps 13 or 14, tied to a chair guarded by three people while another man, who looked to be their superior was sitting on a chair in a nearby desk tapping his fingers while looking expectantly at a phone.

Kuroko squatted down and did some calculations in her head. teleportation quite difficult through the wall with displaced visual input and if she wanted to do it accurately she would need some extra time to figure out the calculus. After 10 seconds she finally disappeared, appearing right above between two of the three guards. She extended her legs again, one to the right and the other to the left, to deliver a powerful kick to each guards head. Then, as she fell towards the ground she brought her legs together around the last guards neck and stretched her hands towards the floor. The minute they hit she rolled her body forward, driving the last guard over the chair into the hard ground at a speed that would have easily killed him if it weren't for his helmet.

Kuroko quickly recovered from the move to see the last person reaching towards the phone, likely about to call for aid or sound the alarm. She teleported over to him and slammed his face into the desk to knock him unconscious.

Now that everything was secured she walked over to the girl and untied her. Her voice shook as she stood up and turned to face her. She was slightly more than a head taller than Kuroko, perhaps a couple centimeters taller than Misaka. She had long untidy black hair tied in a rough ponytail. She was dressed in a cheap, handmade woolen dress that looked quite dirty. Her skin was a light tan except for her cheek which seemed to be swollen and red. Her eyes were narrow and red from crying. They were full of fear, matching her shaky voice as she asked, "wh-who are you? A-are you here to re-rescue me?"

Kuroko took off her helmet and answered, "I am Shirai Kuroko, and I am indeed here to rescue you. We should get goi-." she was cut off but a beeping sound that came from a terminal nearby. She held out a finger in a wait command then went over to investigate. It was a security terminal that had feed from all the cameras in and around the base. The beeping was next to the central terminal which showed the main road. A large truck passed along it turning into the base. The side was decorated by a Russian flag with the motto of the Spetsnaz underneath.

* * *

Kuroko frowned. It seemed they had come after all. Luckily it was after she had already freed the girl, Erdene, so she would be caught in the crossfire. They could run away now and the presence of the Russians would only benefit things given that she did need to find a way to make it look like the girl had been kidnapped by someone else.

However she lingered, not running away quite yet. Instead she put on her helmet and set the audio input to radio and listened in on the "secure channel" that it detected being used.

11 men poured out of the truck, 10 armed and armored with high-tech spec ops gear including night vision goggles. The remaining one didn't have goggles or a helmet to go along with his armor, across his back was slung a sniper instead of the assault rifles the others had.

Across the radio she heard them speak in Russian, "it seems that they're already unconscious."

"Damnit, we're too late. Oh well... don't waste any bullets killing the rest of them and search the base for clues as to where the little Gemstone could have gone."

'kill...' Kuroko repeated in her head. Running away was the best plan but if they were planning on killing the Chinese soldiers that changed things. She couldn't just let them die, even if they were the enemy. Of course taking on so many well-equipped people was a death sentence... unless...

She smiled and said to Erdene, "wait here" then she teleported onto the roof. She disabled the men's guns with her needles just in case then took out her flash grenade, priming it then teleporting it right in front of the group of men as they approached the gate.

Night-vision goggles were notoriously vulnerable to bright lights so the powerful flash was especially effective, a fact Kuroko was quick to take advantage of. Despite all their training she took out the ten blinded men quickly and easily.

Now only one remained. She teleported over to him to knock him out too and finish the battle but unlike the others he had not been affected by the flash grenade. With embarrassing ease he blocked her attack and within the blink of an eye he had the girl by the throat, the one unarmored part of her, putting pressure on her trachea with two fingers while pressing a knife against the back of her head with the other three. Despite the awkward grip the knife was pressed hard enough to draw blood. The pain from the hold disabled her teleportation and any movement would drive the knife into her brain stem.

* * *

"Teleportation... I guess that means you're an ESPer. So Academy City is behind this huh... no real surprise there I suppose," the man said. He was tall and slender and ghostly pale. He looked quite young and his face was handsome. However his eyes were as cold and unforgiving as the siberian tundra he had grown up on."I admire your ability. Taking out all these men plus these ones here. However I am one of the two deadliest people in all of Russia... at least deadliest of the ordinary people, so I'm afraid you're a little outmatched. Still I'd like to see the face of such a worthy opponent before I kill them," He said as he reached up and took off Kuroko's helmet. Once he had done so he sighed, "or not. My mission here has failed and unlike my brother I do not kill children unless it is part of the mission, so I'm going to let you live and you're going to do two things for me. You do understand correct? Or do you need me to speak in English?"

"Yes," she replied in Russian, "either language is fine." She decided to listen to his requests. Now that she knew how dangerous he was she would take him out from a distance if the requests included killing anyone or something like that.

"Good. Now," he said letting go of her and unslinging the sniper rifle from his back, "First things first you are going to teleport these needles out of my gun. It is one of a kind and it will be difficult enough to repair without needles inside of it."

Kuroko nodded and did what she was told as the man told her her second task, "then you are going to load up each of these people you knocked unconscious into the truck so I can drive their sorry asses back home. I'm certainly not going to be the one to tell that bezumnym monakhom about this failure.

the teleporter furrowed her brow at this, not quite understanding but not quite willing to bring undue attention to herself. This was probably the best course of action to ensure everyone's survival as well as the success of her mission.

Once she was done with the gun she loaded the people up as ordered. While she did so the man reclined against the truck, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and holding the end of the blade of his combat knife up to it. He flicked something on the handle and a flame came out of the tip, lighting the cigarette which he promptly dropped on the ground and crushed underfoot.

Once that was done he nodded and said, "I shall leave now. Pray that the next time I see you it is not through the end of my scope." Then he climbed into the truck and drove off.

Kuroko teleported back into the room with the girl and took care of a few more things, including wiping off the past several minutes since her invasion of the base from the security cameras, leaving just a couple frames of a shot of the departing Russian truck as a false trail before teleporting away with the girl, Erdene, who she had filled in on who she had been sent by and why while wiping the security footage, back to the village where she immediately rushed into her hut to reunite with her parents who decided to send her back with Kuroko to Academy City after saying their goodbyes.

* * *

While they did so Kuroko left the hut where she was greeted by the other man who had finished his own work a couple of minutes ago.

"Nice work," he said appreciatively, "Though I still think it's wrong of Aleister to be using such young children to do his dirty work. I mean you look even younger than my own daughter."

"One year younger I know," Kuroko responded knowing exactly who he was talking about, "You're Misaka Tabikake, father of Onee... of Mikoto-sama right?"

"Yeah... you know of my daughter?"

"Well most people know of your daughter, I just know her a little more than most...I'm her roommate in the dorms. She's told me all about you," Kuroko said, speaking politely. Now that her mission was done she could interact a little with the man who would eventually be her father in law and she needed to make that interaction count.

"Ah yes... she talks about you often enough in her phone calls... ," he said and frowned, "her reports do not always paint you in the best light."

"I am a hard person to like," she admitted. She had heard some of what her Onee-sama told her parents and she knew it was mostly negative. People tended not to say many positive things about her personality, "I am antisocial and I try too hard. But I always try my best to look after your daughter and I always have her best interests at heart."

There was silence as Tabikake looked at the girl, judging her. Then finally he spoke up, "How is she doing? It's been a month since I last talked to her."

"She's happy and safe. She gets in trouble a little too often but I do my best to help her with that. She's getting a bit lonely and bored now that school is out but she has a couple friends other than me and she seems so much better nowadays."

It was the right answer to give. Tabikake could tell that this girl cared about his daughter considerably. He had been a bit suspicious at the coincidence at the beginning, thinking that perhaps Aleister was manipulating his daughter using this girl, but that did not seem to be the case.

Although that did bring into question their true relationship. From what he knew from his daughter's phone calls (or Misuzu's reports on her phone calls in case he was out on business when it happened) his daughter's opinion of the girl changed often. In the beginning it had been complaints and grievances, then she seemed to get used to her and began calling her "my friend" instead of "my annoying roommate". Last phone call however she seemed to avoid the topic altogether and being very brief when it did come up, though that seemed to be more because of embarrassment than resentment. Looking at the other girl's neck he could guess why.

He pointed and asked, "That's a fairly nasty burn. Has she been causing you any trouble?"

'Oops...' she thought as she covered it with her hand. though she couldn't manage to cover the entire burn she at least managed to cover the small red mark that was its center. _Showing off your hickey to your girlfriend's father... not the smoothest move_. "Nothing I can't handle. She's powerful and sometimes she just loses a bit of control over her power. I don't think she tries to hurt me." _That one was intentional actually and you know it, she was attempting to make the whole thing look like a burn so she wouldn't be embarassed if someone saw it._

Tabikake knew that his child sometimes lost control of her powers, more than one phone call had been her crying while telling about someone she accidentally hurt. Though that hadn't happened for a while now.

Still that left him with the question of why this girl would bear such a thing. Before she had sounded a little bit like someone who was in an abusive relationship. The devotion she held in her voice and words suggested she felt more than just friendship towards his daughter. The question of whether or not it was mutual as well as how deep Mikoto's own feelings for the other girl ran were still unknown.

Either way he wasn't sure he approved. If this girl was under Aleister's thumb he wasn't sure how much he could trust her. "Tell me a little about yourself," he began, "why are you working for Aleister?"

"Well... he helped me a few years ago when I really needed it and took care of me. It seems the least I could do to pay him back. Plus I really like the work... helping others, doing good. I worked in Judgment before but this is on another scale altogether, a much greater scale. Just thinking about how many people i can help, how many I can save... it makes me feel like its worth it."

Before Tabikake could respond the little Mongolian gemstone returned from the hut and told Kuroko that she was ready to go. The teleporter bowed respectfully to him and politely said goodbye which he returned in kind before the two young girls disappeared.

"What an interesting friend my daughter seems to have..." he said to himself with a half chuckle.

* * *

Between The Lines: 1

This is the first of my little bonus segments that I will put at the end of my chapters. This one narrates what I think I'd like to be the opening to the anime of my book, if it ever got one. Be sure to tell me your opinion of it.

とある開放の場面

Toaru Kaihō no Bamen

A Certain Opening Scene

[Fast, upbeat music]

A blue sky spans as far as the eye can see, little tufts of white dotting the vast expanse with the skyline of Academy city stretched out below. A raven flies into view for a second. Then the skies disappear as the camera changes to a bird's eye view and Academy city's streets come into view, the black roads and white buildings divided up in neat little blocks. Then suddenly the blocks begin to melt together into squares of pure black and pure white, a chess board with pieces fully laid out.

The white knight moves forward and then gets larger until the screen is filled with it, then the scene changes to that of Kuroko and her friends hanging out at a café, laughing and having fun.

Scene change back to the chessboard as the camera rotates revealing that the knight is half white and half black, the camera then refocuses on the black half and zooms in again.

Now Kuroko kneels dressed in her suit of black plate mail in a pure white room filled with a red glow, Aleister floats in front of her.

Scene change back to the chessboard as camera rotates to the front of the knight, showing black and white, and zooms in.

Kuroko is now fighting, dressed in her usual school uniform. She teleports around to beat up three people then is enveloped by her armor and her black mana pours from her hand, protecting her from a blast of flames. The screen is then enveloped in the blackness.

Scene change to an expanse of blackness where there stand two Kurokos, one ghostly white on the right side, the other black as night on the left. They look into each other's eyes.

Scene change to the chessboard where the bishop moves across the board, zoom in on white and scene change to a wrecked portion of the streets of Academy city where Oneeni, in Tokiwadai uniform, sits on a piece of architecture, shepherd crook in hand, watching two other nearby clones. Then she stands and draws her blade out of the crook, in the reflection the white bishop turns around to reveal its black side.

Zoom out to see Oneeni, now in her tuxedo armor, fighting people similar to those that Kuroko fought before, beating two then sheathing her sword and reaching out her hand. As she does so the background where she was fighting fades away into blackness. Now she stands in the same place where the two Kurokos are, standing on the left side with the black one while the original Misaka stands on the right, reaching out her own hand. The two Kuroko's turn away from each other to grab the hands of the person nearest to them.

Before they can get there however the two other girls disappear and the Kurokos fall.

Zoom out to reveal they are falling off of a massive black king piece. Zoom back in to the two girl's heads where their hair ribbons come loose, falling off and drifting upwards. They float to an outstretched hand which closes around them. Pan right to see Aleister in his tube.

He brings the ribbons up to his head as the reflection of the glass shows a black king rotating to white. Though his expression is as flat as ever a tear falls from his eyes.

[Music becomes slower, sadder]

Zoom in on tear while background changes to the chessboard again. Tear falls past the knight, which changes to a pawn as the tear falls past it. Zoom in on pawn which morphs into Kuroko, kneeling again, now on the chessboard. She is bound in chains.

Pan left to see each of these chains leading to a half black, half white pawn held by a number of shadowy figures (which would be revealed one by one as they got introduced in my story. Example, for now there would be Aleister then the ninjas at the very beginning).

Camera pans to the sky, where a large, full, glowing white moon hangs. Then the moon begins rapidly waning. Kuroko's arm lifts towards it as the moon goes from full to half to crescent to gone as if swallowed by the void. Then more chains appear dragging Kuroko's arm back as the moon completely disappears. Camera pans to her face as it goes from neutral to despairing as she opens her mouth to scream.

Screen shatters then a flurry of feathers, black and white, fly up, covering the screen.

Scene change to see the raven from the beginning. Camera zooms out to see the raven perched on the helmet to Kuroko's armor, which is embedded in the ground along with a battle axe behind it and scales to the side, upon which lies a feather on one end and her armband on the other. The background is that of Kuroko's inner world, with its numerous clock towers peppering the horizon.

[last note lingers as the screen fades to black again]

* * *

[1]:This is supposed to say "That is not a problem" in Mongolian but since I don't speak Mongolian I just looked up the words in a translator. Because of that the sentence structure is probably wrong but oh wel

[2]: "molitʹsya, chtoby v sleduyushchiy raz, ya vizhu, ty ne v moyem sferyl" in Russian. I wanted to have this up there but I decided that wouldn't be good as it would break the flow and rob the people who don't read these footnotes of that awesome line.


	8. Toaru Futsū no Hi

とある普通の日

Toaru Futsū no Hi

A Certain Ordinary Day

* * *

August 12th 3:17 AM

When Kuroko arrived back in the Windowless building she was there for around three seconds before disappearing again, before Aleister could get a single word out. She appeared on a nearby roof so the little Mongolian gemstone, Erdene, that she had just recovered could empty her stomach after the teleportation and allow both of them to catch their breath.

When they had done so they teleported back into the building.

"I see you were successful in your mission," Aleister said in Japanese to Kuroko, "Drop her off at the research institution nearby and then return."

Kuroko nodded and did so, quickly returning.

"How was the trip?" Aleister asked. His tone was professional but the words combined with his ever calm voice made it sound more like a friend asking about another friends vacation rather than a superior asking about the details of a subordinates mission.

"There are a few problems with the chip... it is impossible to breathe or see or think while teleporting, any trip longer than 5 minutes would kill me and shorter trips disable me for a short duration afterwards while I catch my breath.

"I see... for longer trips I will break it up in half minute chunks with 15 second recovery times before it resumes. Ensure that you do not move while this happens though or something may go wrong," he told her.

"Thank you for the consideration," she said, smiling.

"Now then, the data upload was cut short so over the next couple days you will need to take some time to visit here after a couple hours of training. 10PM-12AM you will train, followed by an hour here uploading then for the rest of night you will be gathering allies for us across the world. Given this newest revelation about the teleportation you will be unable to do any missions across the pacific in the Americas unless you have a point closer to it to teleport from... so for now you will be visiting the 6 candidates for allies that are located in Asia. You are now dismissed for the night."

* * *

Kuroko nodded, bowed and disappeared. She soon arrived back home and sat down carefully on her Onee-sama's bed next to its currently sleeping owner. The electro-master was fast asleep and clinging to one of her large stuffed animals again, just like two nights ago. It was a bit annoying since that meant she wouldn't be clinging to her unless she removed it, which was a possibility but her technique for switching two objects positions (which she had started practicing after this had first happened) was still a little rusty and it would be best not to try it out quite yet. So rather than that she settled, again, for simply staring at her beautiful, serene, sleeping face.

She stared at the girls humble chest, covered by the bear, heaving up and down in peaceful sleep, she stared at the small sparks that danced to and fro amongst the chestnut hair that framed her face, she stared at the calm expression on her face and at her lush lips curled in the slightest of frowns. She remembered the days when those lips had been such a lofty goal for her, when the thought of brushing the soft pair with her own lips had been nothing but a far off dream. Despite the fact that she had, and still did, push her affection on her Onee-sama somewhat... vigorously... she had decided at the very beginning that there were two boundaries she would not cross, two things she would not take against her Onee-sama's will, her first kiss and her first time. She would kiss her all over but she avoided the lips for all but jokes, leaving the decision of when they would truly kiss up to her Onee-sama.

Because of that she had thought it would take many more months than it had for her Onee-sama to warm up to her enough to kiss her, and had been ecstatic when she had. Now that she looked back she figured she owed a lot to the Queen for making this all possible. Because of her she and her Onee-sama were now going out and her oldest friend, Kuro, was with her once again.

Over the past couple months things had changed so much, for the better Kuroko believed. Pleasant dreams had become reality and unpleasant reality had faded into dreams. Things were still hard, there wasn't a day when she wasn't haunted by the ghosts of her past and the bleak dreams of the worst possible futures, but as she gazed once again up at her roommate and her one true love she recalled the words that had allowed her just a glimmer of hope for a happy future, " if you say you'll find a way then I promise I will do everything in my power to help your dreams come true..."

Kuroko leaned closer to her Onee-sama and put her hand to her face, slowly tracing a line down from her scalp to her temple to her jaw to the tip of her chin with her index finger, sparks following the trail like ripples across water. Then she put her thumb beneath the older girl's chin, tilting her head upwards ever so slightly then leaning down to kiss her. As she drew near a large spark struck her lips, just like that night two months ago, but this time that didn't quite dissuade her. This time her lips met the other girl's with tenderness and love.

As she withdrew from the brief kiss she gently whispered "I love you." Then she went back to stroking the other girl's head gently with her fingers.

"Kuroko..." Misaka whispered in reply as she began stirring. She sat up and looked groggily at the teleporter, "wha' time i' it?" she yawned.

"4:00... sorry to wake you."

Letting go of the bear the older girl now embraced her roommate dragging her back down with her as she resumed her laying down position, "too early," she decided, still three-quarters unconscious, "sing me back to sleep," She ordered childishly.

Kuroko smiled at the other girl and sang her lullaby to the girl who quickly fell back asleep.

Kuroko smiled. Now that the chemical imbalance in her brain had been resolved she could truly enjoy her happiness without the horrible weight of depression weighing down upon her. Now she was so happy it was a little suffocating at times, and hard to control. It had always been hard to control herself around her Onee-sama but now it was even worse, especially because the older girl, despite being childish and a bit of a prude, was a horrible tease when bored, though the teleporter doubted she did it deliberately... most of the time at least. Boredom also decreased the length of the electro-master's fuse, making her quicker to anger, or at least quicker to be violent which, along with the teasing, made Kuroko decide that it would be best to keep her Onee-sama entertained throughout their relationship, until she outgrew that at least.

Of course there were times that she would have to tough it out despite everything, times like yesterday and the day before that and right now.

And right now.

And right now.

And all the right nows for the next four hours until the electromaster woke up again.

* * *

August 12th 8:12

Needless to say Kuroko didn't get to sleep that night. Not that that bothered her too much. The pills she was being supplied as part of her lessons were amazing. They took away all the ill effects of sleep without any of the more unpleasant side effects. She could still fall asleep but it was simply that she didn't need to. Considering the current circumstances, the hellish heaven of her Onee-sama's grip she now found herself in, she was kind of glad for that.

But for some reason she had the odd premonition that tonight would be like that night two months ago in more ways than had revealed themselves so far... less pleasant ways.

This turned out to be true. That morning was a mirror of the morning two months ago, with her Onee-sama harshly zapping her in embarrassment then storming off into the bathroom for a nice long bath to try and calm down a bit.

Kuroko sighed at this once she had recovered from the shock. She stretched out and got out of bed and got changed. Then she walked over to the windows of the room and opened it.

"Hey Prometheus," she said to the jet black raven as she reached out to stroke it, "quite a ways to travel in a single night. How was the flight?"

**"It wasn't."**

"Hmm... you know I never have seen you fly. Surely your wing has healed by now," she said touched his left wing in reference to a memory from her childhood, her first memory of Prometheus where his wing had been completely broken and she had tried to nurse him back to health. His habit of disappearing whenever she turned her back had made that impossible however.

**"Flying is pointless."**

Kuroko sighed, "whenever you aren't talking about magic you are always so tight lipped you know. It's just casual conversation," she was met with a blank stare, "fine whatever. If you want to talk about that anyway i have a little question for you. If the age of Isis ended when humans got magic and that was the second stage, how did the first stage end, the stage of Set."

**"Do you know the most powerful word in the entire history of human tongues? Death. It is a concept unique among humans, not even the angelic language has a word for it which means that no spells can bring the dead back to life. There is a word for dead and even animals can recognize and mourn those who pass on, but death is far more ephemeral than that. That concept of the instant that a person ceases to be alive but is not yet dead is purely a human one. The reason that the age of Set ended was because this concept received a word in the first human tongue. It was a word not even the angels themselves could comprehend. All of the ages end similarly. The age of Isis ended when the word death was spoken to an angel in his native tongue. The age of Osiris ended when the word was written down. And the age of Horus will end when God Himself comes to understand what it is to die."**

"God and angels... I see..." she said rolling her eyes, "My imagination doesn't seem to realize I'm an atheist, I don't believe in God."

**"God and angels is a little misleading actually. They are one and the same. The one that humans call God is nothing more than an amalgamation of the angels all lumped together to give the omnipotence and omniscience that the angels alone did not possess. While the angels can manifest in weaker forms alone, their power is greatly decreased when they do so."**

"Thanks for answering my question," she said, preferring to stop before he began ranting even more, "I have things to do though so I'll see you later," she said, "how about tonight or even this afternoon if I'm just wandering around."  
The bird seemed to accept this and disappeared. Once he left she closed the window and began her next task: printing off the pictures from her digital camera then, after she retrieved her album of her pictures of Onee-sama, she began adding the newly printed off pictures to it until she heard the water begin draining in the bathroom.

* * *

Misaka sighed as she got out of the bath and began toweling off. She really hadn't changed since they began their relationship had she? Sure she was more permissive but when it boiled down to it it really was the same as two months ago when she had hurt Kuroko so much just because she was embarrassed, even when it wasn't the teleporter's fault.

She finished drying and walked over to her pile of clothes. On top was a jewelry box. She took this and walked over to the sink. She opened it up, revealing the beautiful necklace she had been given a little over a week ago by Kuroko. She hadn't worn it much since then, too afraid of such a precious thing getting stolen or damaged to risk carrying it around with her.  
What had possessed the younger girl to give her such a beautiful and valuable thing despite her terrible behavior during their date (and ignorance to the fact that it was a date to begin with) Misaka doubted she would ever know. Kuroko went to a school like Tokiwadai so she doubted she was too pressed for money but this still must have cost a fortune.

She put the necklace on and looked in the mirror, admiring its beauty. Her fingers trailed along the surface of the center gem, over the engraved words, "my heart beats for you". She smiled as she read them again. She could practically hear the other girl's heartbeat right now.

"That really looks beautiful on you Onee-sama," came a voice from the other end of the bathroom. Misaka turned to see Kuroko squatting by the door with a smile on her face.

Instantly a deep crimson blush colored the older girl's face and she zapped the other girl with just enough presence of mind to aim at the legs, as she had been doing every time she shocked the other girl so as not to further hurt her heart. "BAKA! PERVERT!" She screamed as she grabbed the nearest towel and used it to cover herself, "GET OUT!"

As Kuroko lay on the floor looking up at Misaka with a gaze halfway between lecherous and awestruck she said, "I would have but I think I'm going to have some problems moving my legs for a short while... you really do look beautiful with that on you know... you should wear it more..."

For years after that scientists would ponder how the electro-master's blush managed to get even deeper than it had been before at that comment. Her mind raced and her hand was curled into a fist. Embarrassment and anger flowed through her veins like a torrent as she saw Kuroko's eyes. She tried to cover as much of herself as possible with her towel but her clothes were all the way on the other side of the room, she'd have to go past Kuroko to get them and if she did that Kuroko would be able to see.

"Leave now," she said again, fire evident in her voice.

"As I said before... I can't move..."

"...Really... you can't move at all?" Misaka's voice, so full of fire a moment ago, now sounded more... scheming. A shudder travelled down the teleporter's spine as the other girl walked over to her clothes, seemingly not caring if Kuroko looked, though as she walked past she did a quick push with her foot to make sure that the younger girl would be at an angle which would make it hard to do so.

When she was done she picked Kuroko up in the usual bridal style that was made so easy by the teleporter's tiny frame and negligible weight. "An immobilized Kuroko eh..." the electromaster thought aloud with a slightly unnerving grin that added further to Kuroko's unease, making the younger girl confused whether to be happy at the contact with her Onee-sama or scared at the same.

After leaving the bathroom Misaka sat on her bed with Kuroko now on her lap. One hand was placed at the base of her roommate's neck while the other was placed on her abdomen. Now without any method of escaping Misaka thought of just how she should pay Kuroko back for all the embarrassment she had suffered that morning.

The teleporter sat there, effectively immobilized with her eyes closed, waiting for the punishment to follow as Kuro seethed. She sat like that for a full minute without so much as a single spark before she decided to open one eye.

She saw the grin on her Onee-sama's face fall and turn into a frown. The electro-master slightly shifted her grip on Kuroko as the hand that had been on the back of her neck began stroking her cheek and the hand on her abdomen traced the scars on her torso as was their habit.

"It's pointless," the older girl finally vocalized, "There's nothing I could do even if I wanted to. I don't want to hurt you, I never have. I sometimes do it at the spur of the moment or when I'm particularly angry but I can't just shock you like this... And anything else I could do to you wouldn't work. You have no shame so I couldn't do anything to embarrass you and when I really think about it there's nothing I could do to you now that can't be done any other time. After all if I said don't move you wouldn't, even if you could. You'd do anything I asked because you're like that... you love me that much..."

The electro-master's voice began to take on a slightly depressed tone, one that, from Kuroko's experience, was her guilty voice, "because you love me that much... dammit look at me... I hurt my girlfriend because I was embarrassed about my own actions then I hurt you again because you complimented me. Then when you are hurt and vulnerable because of my actions what do I do? I sit here thinking how I can take advantage of you for revenge for things that are just overreactions on my part." she rested her chin on Kuroko's shoulder, looking the other girl right in the eyes, "and the worst thing is that you know all of this and yet you just sit there and don't protest because you love me that much... You're the perfect girlfriend and you're stuck with someone like me... I'm sorry... you really deserve so much better than me."

The teleporter's blush grew to match the one Misaka had had earlier, when she teleported into the bathroom to offer her aid in toweling her girlfriend off and she had been enchanted by the sight of the electro-master with the necklace she had given her on. Now she was this centimeters away and what's more... 'perfect girlfriend,' Kuroko repeated her Onee-sama's words in her mind. She worked so hard on being exactly that and hearing that she was succeeding was enough to send her to a place of pure bliss.

She needed to preserve this moment. Instantly she summoned her camera from her storage horn into her left hand and snapped a quick picture of the moment (it was her stealth camera so the tiny thing had no shutter noise or flash to alert her Onee-sama of what she was doing, much like had happened just before now in the bathroom) before storing it again and getting out a little sound recorder and turning it on. "what did you say I was," she asked, her face forming a slightly confused facade in hopes that her Onee-sama would repeat those pair of words that were more valuable to the teleporter than all the world's riches.

Indeed the electro-master said once again those words she longed to hear, "you're the perfect girlfriend Kuroko. You're caring and compassionate, even more amazing you can handle a person like me when I do nothing to earn your tolerance or love." the older girl was on the verge of tears. Introspection rarely revealed things you wanted to find after all.

"Of course you earn it... every time you say you love me I feel happier than anything else in the world could possibly make me. You say you don't deserve me but you are my happiness and don't you think I deserve to be happy? For better or worse we deserve each other."

Misaka looked deep into the other girl's eyes and saw the sincerity there, "yeah.. you do deserve to be happy... I love you Kuroko," she said before kissing the girl in her arms.

When they pulled away Kuroko responded with a smile and said, "I love you too. It might be a while longer till I can move," she lied, ignoring the fact she had already regained enough feeling to do so, "let me sit here until I can? Maybe a kiss to make it feel better?" she suggested, deciding to go all out.

Misaka looked down at the injury. It wasn't too bad though there was a small burn mark fairly high on the thigh, high enough to be hidden by their school uniform's skirt had Kuroko been wearing it but low enough to not make kissing it a particularly lewd action. The teleporter's legs were about twice as large around as her arms and were similarly composed of almost pure muscle powerful enough to send a person four times her weight to the floor, as Misaka had been witness to before. But, despite the potential killing power that was hidden in the muscles underneath, the skin was as smooth and soft as the rest of her (sans the scarred or calloused parts).

"Don't get used to it..." the older girl muttered as she leaned down.

* * *

August 12th, 11:13

Kuroko sat at her computer at Judgment Headquarters, typing away while her mind wandered to everything that had happened and things that could soon happen. Things were changing quickly... or maybe they weren't, it was so hard to tell at times. She liked to think that her happiness was all real but that didn't mean that everything else was, and the weight of sorting out the illusions from reality had really been pressing down on her especially when so many of her pleasant dreams were coming true.

She had managed, at least, to get her act back together, so Konori and Uiharu weren't constantly worrying about her anymore. That was a good thing, after all the suspicion of two such shrewd people had been hard to work around. She still felt like they suspected her, but that was probably her paranoia. Of course she had learned time and time again that the line between paranoia and reasonable caution was difficult to see, especially in her case.  
Of course it was just then when her paranoia struck again, a shiver running down her spine as she felt a presence behind her. She wheeled around in her chair, pulling out her needles as she did so, and saw a tall, broad shouldered man walking into the room. He hadn't made a sound coming up the stairs and even as he closed the door barely a whisper escaped.

"Chief Marshall," Kuroko said, bowing and putting her needles away, "what a surprise to see you sir."

"Sir eh?" the chief said in his slow, thoughtful voice, "I wonder if that's appropriate in this situation," he sat on the couch,

"Since Anti-Skill is all Academy city has and we lack a Chief of Internal Security, the internal aspects of law enforcement would technically fall under the jurisdiction of Internal Intelligence and thus fall under the responsibility of the Chief of Intelligence, being you. Of course the branches that the Chief of Intelligence controls fall under the jurisdiction of the Commander in Chief since they are still military matters. So, since I am both Chief of Anti-Skill and Commander in Chief, I suppose I am your boss while at the same time you are mine.'

_He seems to know about the arrangement you have with Aleister-Sama_ "Chief of Intelligence was a courtesy title given for convenience alone and I do not possess it while I am not actively working and even when I am its authority is to be used only in the way commanded of me. My power is not my own."

"How mature of you to realize that," Marshall responded with a smile, "it's true, no power is truly our own yet we always see ourselves as the chess-master not the pawns, as the carpenter, never the tools."

"As much as I'd like to sit here and discuss philosophy with you sir... is there a reason that you came here?" Kuroko asked, hoping to finish up this conversation as soon as possible. For some reason she could not explain she was extremely uncomfortable being around this man.

"Yep, but that will wait until Judgment agent Konori returns. I came here a bit early to tease you but my main business is with you and her together. Until then, here, have a medal," he said reaching into a bag at his waist, pulling out a medal, and tossing it to the teleporter who caught it deftly and looked at it suspiciously.

"What exactly are you giving me this for sir?" she asked, more and more confused by his actions by the second.

"That one's a civilian medal for putting in over 2000 volunteer hours, but I grant it that that's not my motivation. I gave it to you because I like medals. They're shiny and they make people feel so accomplished, whether they deserve it or not. Sufficiently decorate even a level headed, helpful, humble man and he'll become nothing but a pride filled bully more concerned about getting more accolades than about helping others and being worthy of those same accolades he seeks. It's so ironic how the best way to ruin a hero is to acknowledge them as a hero. Perhaps that's why the best heroes will never be known to history."

"Ahh... mind games... got it..." Kuroko dismissed as she opened the drawer to her desk and dropped it in, joining at least five others as well as several bits of trash then closed it and got back to work, "sorry to disappoint sir but I'm not the best person to play them with."

"I suppose that's true. It's hard to play mind games when the other person doesn't even have a full deck, though I mean that in the least offensive way possible," he said.

Kuroko continued to ignore his teasing. He was still her superior after all, and anyways, her residual happiness from this morning effectively muffled the annoyance. Soon enough Konori returned and after a few pleasantries he got down to business, "in three days there will be a Judgment Public Appeal event taking place in District 2 and seeing as your branch has the highest success rates we would like a representative to participate in it, and seeing as Kuroko is already somewhat of a legend we would like her to represent Judgment to the public. We would also appreciate if you and the other agent participated."

"Um... I don't see why not... but we don't really have any other agents so won't that leave us a little vulnerable," Konori agreed, though a little unsure.

"It will be fine, don't worry. If you can convince more agents to join it does more good in the long run than a single day not on patrol harms doesn't it?"

"I suppose..." Konori deferred, as put off and intimidated by the chief's presence as Kuroko was, though for different reasons.

"Good, then I'll be leaving," he said and did just that.

Uiharu came in, Saten tailing her, just as he did so and they quickly filled her in on what was happening. She seemed excited by the news and asked for more details which they were unable to give since they themselves had forgotten to ask.

"Just remember that this is not a vacation you two," Konori said authoritatively, "You are representing Judgment to the public. It is an honor and you should be on your best behavior." Her gaze lingered on Kuroko when she said that.

"Yes ma'am," Uiharu said eagerly. Last year when it had happened Uiharu and Kuroko had both been training so in a sense they had been part of the show before as it involved going around the training grounds while the newest set of recruits were training. Uiharu had been so embarrassed, especially when some kids had laughed at her miserable attempts to do even a single push up. But this time she would be part of the main show, and that really excited her, but what excited her more was the recognition. Only the best and brightest agents were chosen to represent Judgment and she was one of them!

Kuroko merely nodded with a more informal "yes". Compared to this morning the idea of being chosen to go to this appeal event was hardly exciting. "Perfect girlfriend", coming from her Onee-sama, was an incomparably better and more meaningful compliment than this after all.

"Good, maybe if all goes well we can all go get some ice cream as a reward." Konori said with her facade of calmness.

Kuroko saw right through it to the nervousness beneath. After all, why else would she do something like try to bribe them with ice cream if she was in her right mind. It was so childish, as if she and Uiharu would fall for something as simple as tha-

"Yay!" said Uiharu excitedly.

Kuroko sighed and rolled her eyes, but didn't say a word.

"I think I'm missing something," Saten began, "why are you so excited to go to something boring like that?"

* * *

August 12th, 11:47

As Uiharu explained it to her friend Kuroko decided to go off on an informal patrol, putting the headset in but not following one of the preplanned routes. Konori left soon after on a similar activity, though her reason was more because of the nervousness that this newest announcement brought. Her exit left Saten and Uiharu alone, a fact noted by the taller girl.

"That sounds great, you should be proud of yourself," the long haired level zero said as her friend finished her story.

The flower headed girl closed her eyes and grinned widely at the praise. She was about to reply when she felt a pair of lips on hers, her eyes shot open just as the taller girl pulled away. "Your reward for doing so well," she explained, patting the other girl's head as Uiharu's face erupted in a blush several magnitudes deeper than Saten's own.

After several seconds of awkward silence which even Saten was hesitant to break, the flower headed girl muttered, purposely just loud enough for Saten to hear, "That was a little short for a reward kiss..." Though she didn't look the other girl in the eye and still had a deep crimson blush her voice held purpose and a slightly less than subtle implication.

Saten's blush, though only a light scarlet before, instantly changed to match Uiharu's own much deeper hue as the other girl's boldness on this matter surprised her once again. "yes ma'am," she said much like the first time it had happened as she leaned back in for a longer, more passionate kiss. However, even though this one lasted over twice as long, when she stopped and began to withdraw Uiharu pulled her back in.

Five minutes later Uiharu , finally satisfied with the reward she had received, went over to her computer and began working, leaving the now exhausted Saten back on the couch trying to sort out up from down.

* * *

Kuroko walked through the district, her mind, somewhat surprisingly, not full of thoughts of Misaka. Much like Konori she was concerned about this news, but not for the same reason. She was more concerned about the chief's words, both before and after Konori's entrance, than she was about this appeal event.

When he had been talking to Konori he had had on a pleasant smile and spoke with kind, casual words, completely unlike the face that Kuroko had been privy to. Added to that was the aura he had around him. It was... heavy somehow... Kuroko didn't know how to describe it, but she knew it unnerved her.

Then there was what he said: "If you can convince more agents to join it does more good in the long run than a single day not on patrol harms doesn't it?"

While there was logic to these words Kuroko was a little hesitant to simply let all the criminals in the jurisdiction of Branch 177 to run amok for a day. Especially considering that their district had a high... concentration... of...  
Kuroko turned off the microphone, "What do you think Kuro?" she asked after briefly describing her thought process.

_"I did say that we would stop by, and now seems as good a time as any."_

"Agreed." she said and, after checking the location on her visor, disappeared.

* * *

August 12th, 11:58

Hamazura Shiage was not having a good day. He hadn't been having many good days recently. He personally blamed that cocky little ESPer girl, "the scourge", for most of it. Skill-Out had taken some pretty hard hits recently thanks to her. A good chunk of its membership was in jail and their resources had been hit pretty hard after that whole capacity-down van incident that Zangyaku had cooked up. It had been damn expensive to get and fit all those vans and their funds had taken a pretty big hit. And now they were struggling to get more money as well as more members.

The only consolation he had was that most of the current members were pretty skilled and loyal to Ritoku. Ritoku himself had been getting even stronger as well, especially with that Smart weapon he had gotten. Hanzou too had been showing a very high level of proficiency recently, distracted as he seemed at times. And then there was himself and ,without bragging too much, he was pretty damn awesome.

Still, Skill-Out was unarguably in a much weaker position, and now that they were in a vulnerable state, more and more level zeros were being bullied and picked on, and those that weren't happy with that turned to roving street gangs rather than joining Skillout as they had before, meaning the crime rate was going up in most places in the district, all except the branch with that teleporter brat in it. And they just didn't have the resources to monitor the entire place and protect every level zero, much as Ritoku wanted to.

Of course they still had to try, which was why he was currently out walking around checking on the people and places on Ritoku's little list. So far nothing much had happened, but that peace was ended as he came across six guys who were all wearing the same uniform with ridiculously bright red hair that certainly didn't look natural along with matching bandanas. They were all hitting on a girl with brown hair and a light pink sports outfit. Of course Shiage didn't really care about this until the girl seemed to say something that pissed off one of them seeing as he grabbed the girl by the collar with his left hand and summoned a fireball in his right, "what did you say to me brat?!" he yelled.

Shiage shook his head, and kicked the nearby fire hydrant hard enough to knock off one of its caps and send the water shooting in a jet towards the guy, knocking him sideways with the powerful jet. As the jet weakened and finally petered out the blond level zero took a step forward, "Hey hothead, this is Skill-Out territory and we don't approve of ESPers bullying people on our turf."

"What does a worthless zero like you think you're doing speaking to Calvin like that," one of them said.

"Worthless huh?" he repeated as he cracked his knuckles, "hey girly if you're squeamish I suggest you leave, I'm about to make these guys' teeth an endangered species."

"That's kind of unlikely," was the girl's response, "Even ignoring the fact that you're a level zero there are six of these guys and only one of you. I can handle myself but you're probably gonna get hurt if you don't leave."

The bluntness of the girl's words surprised Shiage and disrupted his focus as he was beginning to retort. This opportunity was noticed by the pyrokinetics as Calvin said, "turn him to ash boys," and all six simultaneously shot a fireball directly at him. They smirked as they connected and exploded. Nobody could have survived that... but... wasn't it a little too close to have hit him...

Shiage saw as something suddenly appeared several feet in front of him and the fireballs exploded where it had appeared. The flames soon cleared and he saw The Scourge standing in front of him. Then she began to run towards the six, her right arm, though partially shielded by the armor which she had summoned before it hit and dismissed afterwards, hanging burnt and useless at her side. She floored one of the delinquents, Calvin, with a punch from her left arm.

Though too shocked to move for a second, Shiage quickly recovered and charged into the fray just in time to stop a fireball from one of the pyrokineticists who was aiming it at the little girl's back.

The fight was over very quickly. Once it was Kuroko immediately looked to the girl in the pink sports outfit, _"civilian,"_ she said to her authoritatively, _"I need you to call Anti-Skill then wait here and tell them what happened."_ Then she turned to Shiage and said, _"As for you, a civilian should not get involved in fights... I'll need to talk to you back at base,_" she said pointing towards the Skill-Out base in hopes that he would understand.

He did and left in that direction with a scoff, "whatever," he said, going along with the charade. Kuroko left after him.

The girl stood there as they left. Despite the fact that he had been heavily outnumbered, despite the fact that she was a stranger, despite the fact that he had been a level zero while they had been ESPers, he had still tried to protect her... As she stood there thinking about it her cell phone rang. She picked it up.

"Where are you Rikou? The meeting started 10 minutes ago."

"Sorry Mugino, I got held up," she answered.

"Well hurry up!"

"Sure..."

* * *

August 12, 12:03

"What are you doing here?" Shiage asked when the other girl finally caught up.

_"As polite as ever to the person who saved your life twice now."_

"I didn't need the help and you fucking shot me. The bruise still hasn't healed."

Kuro held up her horribly burnt arm. When it had been burnt, before the fight but after teleporting away the armor, the resulting injury had been too painful to teleport so she had decided to take over instead. She would stop by Lammington's quickly on the way back to transition back to Shiro but she decided it would be better to go to this Skill-Out meeting herself. _"I think we can call ourselves even on that front considering I got this helping you."_

Shiage paused, "fine... we're even..." he decided. Though it hurt his pride to admit it, she had saved him this time, and last time too. "Are you gonna go to a hospital for that by the way?"

_"No."_

Shiage rolled his eyes as they arrived at the base, "you still haven't said what you're here for."

_"Checking in."_ she responded before entering and going to Ritoku's "office". When she arrived he was there, as the tracker that was still embedded in him said he would be, and they had a conversation. He told her their current situation without giving away too much information.

_"If there are any gangs of ESPers which are bothering you just call Judgment or myself. If I see a crime I will stop it, no matter who the perpetrator and crimes against delinquents are still crimes."_

"Except for the fifteenth eh?" Ritoku said.

_"You know?"_

"Everyone knows. A day where the scourge is preoccupied... Every criminal in the district is treating that as a holiday. Don't worry though, my men are loyal and disciplined enough that they'll be on their best behavior even with such an opportunity."

_"If I hear reports to the contrary I will not show any mercy."_

"I believe that," he said. Then Kuroko got up and began to leave, only to hear Ritoku say, "catch." as she was walking out the door. She caught the object in question, a walkie talkie, deftly with her right hand as Ritoku explained it's purpose, "If you insist we rely on you we should at least have a means of communicating."

Kuro nodded then turned to leave again, but Ritoku wasn't quite down, "you know when you came in here your arm was as black as your name. But given how easily you caught that I'm guessing it's all better."

_"When you get burned as often as I do you learn to bounce back quickly,"_ She said and left.

* * *

August 12th, 12:36

She soon arrived at Lammington's apartment and knocked on the door. This time it was Vyer's that answered.

"Ah, Kuroko, nice to see you. Lammington is out gardening if you needed him, if not feel free to come in."

_"Thank you, is Oneeni here?"_

"Yep. She's in her room."

_"Thank you,"_ Kuro said as she went over to the room she had been in last time and entered. When she did she saw Oneeni training with what looked to be a small thin sword, possibly a rapier by the look of it. She quickly noticed Kuro's entrance and stopped, putting the rapier back in the odd looking cane that seemed to act as its sheath.

_"Good afternoon Oneeni."_

Oneeni typed on her wrist device, "Polite tone: Good afternoon Kuro."

_"Sit on the bed please."_ Kuro asked. Oneeni did so the next moment and Kuro went over to her. But rather than just kissing her and leaving Kuro sat on her lap, adjusting herself so that she was in the same position as Shiro had been in this morning with the original and sat there.

Oneeni was slightly confused but did not protest. The gentle pressure on her thighs was nice and there was a light pleasant scent of orchids about her. She turned her music player to something less heavy and intense than her training track which fit the mood even better.

Kuro noticed this, _"music?" _she asked, seeing the earbuds the other girl had in. Oneeni nodded then took one out and offered it to the other girl. Kuro accepted and put it in her ear. She was slightly surprised to hear that the words were in English. She stole a quick glance at the music player and saw that it was a song called "Somebody to Love" by some band called "Queen".

_"You understand English?"_

Oneeni nodded then typed on her wrist device, "Informative tone: My mentor taught me. He also taught me Hebrew."

_"I see..."_ She said before the pair lapsed back into silence, only broken by the mute girl's humming. They stayed like that until Shiro began protesting, at which point Kuro turned back to the older girl and said,_ "I'll see you tonight."_ and kissed her.

After which Shiro took back over and left.

* * *

August 12th, 1:17

As she walked out she saw Vyers sitting at the table with a glass of what looked to be alcohol. He saw her, nodded briefly, and said, "You know... I have been alive for five hundred years and they have yet to come up with a cure for the hangover.

I asked Az once and he said that the cure was "to stop drinking". Though I guess he's right. Unlike you or Lammington I don't heal so things like liver damage can really affect me if I don't practice moderation."

"Az?" Kuroko asked, feeling like she had heard that name before.

"Heaven Canceler to you I guess. He has gone through a lot of names, he claims to have even been Hippocrates himself if you can believe that. But according to Lammington Az is as close to his real name as he has ever revealed. My guess has always been that it has something to do with Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine but I'm not too sure."

Kuroko nodded, "How long have you and Lammington been together?" she asked out of the blue. It had been picking at her mind for a short while now. If they were as old as they claimed how much overlap had there been?

"If you're asking how long we've been friends, four hundred and twenty years, If you're asking how long we've been a couple I'm sorry to say that the answer is never. Guy's pretty much asexual from what I've seen. But I suppose immortality does that to some people. You see I got it figured that people pretty much take it one of two ways. There's someone like Lammington who shuts himself off from the world, too afraid of getting hurt to connect to people at all, instead putting all his time and energy into other things, in his case horticulturalism. Then there's people like me who, rather than closing ourselves off, just decide to live in the moment. Parties, sex, alcohol, things like that. You see I was eighty when I met Lammington but he was almost three hundred when he met me. He had seen so many people he cared about wither away that he decided it was best not to make any connections to others whatsoever, that is until he met me, another being who shared this cursed blessing. But I'm just blathering on and on, I'm sure you have better things to do than listening to me, so I'll see you later on ok?"

Kuroko nodded and disappeared.

* * *

Author's Note: My chapters tend to have one focus. Action, romance, plot, or in this case just day in the life kind of entertainment and interaction between a lot of different characters. This was actually suggested by one of my loyal readers, FlygonMaster so I decided to go for it.

And by the way... I understand Uiharu was uncharacteristically aggressive in this chapter, although I like to think it's more that she knows what she wants in regards to "that kind of thing" and isn't afraid to tell people about it. It was a character choice I made for her and I hope you like it and think it's a worthy addition to her personality.

And yes, I had Shiage and Rikou meet before he joined ITEM, but I think it enhances canon rather than violating it, he probably just forgot about it... until she mentioned him getting turned to ash in the novel...

Oh and if you were wondering, Vyers is neither heterosexual nor homosexual nor bisexual, he's more... trysexual, he'll try anything.

* * *

Dedications: This chapter goes out to FlygonMaster who both inspired and beta'ed this chapter for me. Thank you very much.

* * *

Coming Soon: The fall of the monk and the three-barred cross.


	9. Toaru Ando no Tameiki

とある安堵のため息

Toaru Ando no Tameiki

A Certain Sigh of Relief

* * *

August 12th 6:18AM

"She meets with the first of your future science communities today doesn't she?" The associate, jaw now back in one piece, asked Aleister.

"Yes, I have already organized everything with them, including getting confirmation that they will house and support the clones we will soon be sending. Speaking of that, are preparations complete for that process? The Rook Class aircraft are complete right?"

"We currently have 2 Rook Class 2's, Angel and Principality, 2 Rook Class 3's, Virtue and Dominion, and 2 Rook Class 4's, Throne and Cherubim. The experimental Rook class 1, Seraphim, is still incomplete. Seeing as we're transporting people, Rook Class 4 would be the best bet, so we are currently constructing more of those. There should be 5 by the time they are ready to be moved."

"And the pilots?"

The associate opened their hand to reveal large white chips that looked to be teeth from a shark or similar creature, "Soldiers from the Dragon project would be best," they said as he tossed one of the teeth on the ground. Within a minute there formed a person. "They can be instantly taught anything they need to know and they are," the person began as they pulled out a gun and fired a bullet through the person's head, rendering it nothing but several large red chunks which soon turned to dust as the associate finished their sentence with the word, "expendable."

Aleister nodded, "create a platoon, outfit them with the necessary equipment, and send them to the city immediately, no matter how skilled my knight is she will need some reinforcements to hold the city."

* * *

August 12th 9:52PM

With high spirits and a singed tongue, Kuroko arrived at practice where she recharged her mana and practiced her magic for a couple of hours.

_"There was something I was wondering,"_ She asked as she practiced, _"About the healing... I suffered a fairly major burn earlier today which healed within fifteen minutes of my transformation. However a far more minor burn received later on lasted for twice as long."_

"Yes... you will notice that. A paper cut will take days to heal while a sword wound will take hours, even minutes. The body heals because it wishes to return to the base state, the equilibrium. Because your body is in a state of equilibrium, it will behave much like a pendulum when that equilibrium is interrupted, and much like a pendulum will swing faster if you pull it further back, the more major the injury the quicker the body heals it. However it will, in turn, consume far more mana. So, while it is sometimes worth worsening an injury to make it heal faster, remember that you cannot regain mana too quickly and if you do take that shortcut too often you will grow weaker and weaker."

_"Is there any more efficient way to regain mana than the tea?"_

"Well I'd like to say vampirism but there are a few problems with that."

_"Please say the problem is that vampires don't exist."_

"Of course they do, in fact I am good friends with one. A great deal of the mythology behind them is fictional at best, really the one I know is just like any other person. They tend to hide themselves so few people really understand them, and even among those who acknowledge their existence as real fear them as incredibly hostile and deadly, stating that any who meet them die. But while that isn't true and most of their power is exaggerated they are still quite powerful and useful to research, though doing so requires their consent if you wish to live long. The spell that powers up ESPers, David's Blessing, was based off of a vampire's ability to transfer the energy from one organic being to another. The problem is that we can't use it to drain and even if we could there are certain ethical issues with doing that."

Kuro sighed, _"Any other mythical creatures that you're going to tell me actually exist._"

"Many, in one sense or another... whether as an actual creature or as a symbol of some sort."

**"I could give you a list if you wanted,"** Prometheus offered.

_"What about mythological people?"_

"I don't know. I know Odin existed but the true scope of mythology's accuracy is not something I have knowledge of."

**"I do," **The raven offered smugly, happy as usual to be the only one to "know" these things and Kuroko could swear there was a bit of bitterness in his tone as he said, **"Greek mythology is, for the most part, false. The gods they worshipped were simply creations, holding no power. The Egyptians worshipped the Aeons as if they were gods, which is why they hold the name of Egyptian gods. Norse mythology was a collection of super-powerful humans rather than gods. Such as Odin, the first majin and the most powerful one."**

Kuro cocked her eyebrow to show confusion at the phrase without betraying her insanity, and dignity, further to her mentor. Prometheus seemed to understand and elaborated, **"A majin is a person who is a physical manifestation of the angelic record of existence and thus is capable of altering reality itself to their whim. However it is limited by two factors. One is the fact that they must be able to comprehend the change, meaning logical impossibilities are still impossible and meaning that anyone without the Orb of Babel, which the first majin Odin had, is actually quite limited in what they can do. The second limiting factor is the fact that the angelic language of existence is basically composed of ones and zeros and any attempt to change the record is an action unprecedented on the record so it only changes if certain factors are in place which, due to the laws of infinite improbability boils down to a fifty-fifty shot at something happening. Of course that can be overcome if the angelic word for zero is spoken in the presence of a majin, but only Speakers and Angels can do that."**

Another eyebrow cock. **"Speakers are people who can speak the angelic tongue and have been around since the age of Set ended as a method of resolving the differences between the specificity of the angellic language and the generality of the developing human tongue. The person who caused the fall of Samael was a speaker as well as many powerful magicians and prophets throughout history."**

Satisfied with the answer Kuro went through the rest of practice then kissed Oneeni to transition back into Shiro then, as instructed, went with the clone to the windowless building. From this point on, she had been told, Oneeni would be accompanying her in the field, a fact Kuro was "happy" about (though she couldn't technically feel happy), because it would allow her to take over if it became necessary without risking getting trapped halfway across the world without the ability to teleport back.

* * *

They soon arrived at the windowless building and the room inside in which Aleister was waiting for them, floating, as usual, in the massive glass tube in the center. Both Kuroko and Oneeni kneeled respectfully before going through a half hour upload (Oneeni went through an upload as well, with similar information). After that was finished Aleister began briefing them about their upcoming mission.

"Today you will be visiting the first of our prospective allies. A city named Gwahag that rests within the demilitarized zone in the border between North and South Korea. When the war between the two countries ended, a group of scientists was assigned by the U.N. for the task of clearing the area of mines and maintaining the safety and security of the region. Over time this community grew as it was inhabited by civilians from both sides and eventually it was granted independent sovereignty and became a scientific city focused primarily on defensive weaponry and structural reinforcement technology and has effectively ended outright aggression between the two, though the tension it has caused has increased and increased. Though it has stayed neutral, if it were to side with either North or South Korea they would have a strong advantage if another war were to happen."

"This tension culminated in an attack by North Korea yesterday, as you may have heard on the news. Though the city is backed by the U.N. they are notoriously slow at solving problems and South Korea may decide to launch an attack at any minute in an attempt to solve the security issue a NK occupied Gwahag could pose by wiping the city off the map. So they have decided to turn to us, promising their allegiance in return for evicting the forces from the city."

"Since sending in a military battalion could severely damage our reputation with the U.N. and cause unwanted collateral damage and since the occupation force is a rather small force of elite soldiers I decided that it would be better to send you and... Oneeni, to deal with the issue. You will have backup in the form of a special forces battalion squad I have already sent who have been ordered to follow your commands for this mission. They already have training with occupation so you will simply need to clear a way for them and disable as many hostiles as possible while doing as little damage as you can. All the information we have has been uploaded so you should know more about the situation than I can describe to you. Keep your armor on, this is your debut as the Black Knight, make an impression."

"Yes Aleister-sama, I understand."

"And one more thing. While you are heavily outnumbered you can count on a good deal of the soldiers being asleep within the seized buildings that you should already know about, to ensure they stay asleep throughout the fight I have an experimental device for you to try," he nodded to a chest that was near Kuroko, "they are gas canisters that cause a person who is asleep to fall into a what could be considered a temporary coma from which they will not be able to awaken from for several hours."

"Is it safe?"

"It is non-lethal so it is a better fate than allowing them to wake up and kill somebody or get killed themselves."

Kuroko frowned. Given what he had said it probably wasn't safe for everyday use, which was kind of a waste considering the possibilities that it opened up... But now wasn't the time for that so she pushed it to the back of her mind and focused on more professional matters.

"I understand, we shall go right away," the teleporter said, changing into her armor then grabbing onto the clone and disappearing.

* * *

Within a minute they had appeared at their destination, shortly outside the city where the other troops were waiting. They were equipped with highly advanced, full-body Anti-Skill armor with helmets and the most advanced Anti-Skill weaponry as well, something Kuroko was glad to see, since Anti-Skill weaponry was for disabling targets rather than killing them.

"We await your orders," one said.

"Well" she began, not used to this. She ordered around Uiharu sure but this was different, these were trained soldiers. Still she needed to maintain her air of dignity and station, so she put on her knight's tone as she continued, "you should probably wait until I've taken out the snipers. Oneeni, while I do that I need you to go to the NK's impromptu barracks and disable the sleeping soldiers. Make sure you aren't seen and they don't wake up. I'll give the rest of you orders when that's done."

They nodded simultaneously then just stood there, like statues. It was a little unnerving actually.

She worked out a quick cypher for Oneeni to use (since her mutism prevented verbal communication) over the radio then left, using her glasses and the information she had received of the area and troop placements to avoid the sniper's line of sight, utilizing her powers to appear and take cover inside the buildings. She decided to start from the highest points then go down, hoping that that would allow her to take out the greatest number of snipers before she was caught since most of them were too focused on looking down at the streets and entryways to the city to look up at the other snipers. All she needed to do was open a small hole in the otherwise impenetrable circle of overlapping lines of sight to allow Oneeni to get in and do her part.

Beginning with the sniper on top of the radio tower (the tallest building in the city), she worked her way through 5 of the snipers' nests before giving Oneeni the OK to go.

* * *

Oneeni snapped twice into the mic to communicate she understood, then went off through the path that the teleporter had opened up. She quickly transitioned to the power lines and used them to zip along at high speed, with the additional advantage of a nearby source of high voltage electricity for her to draw from. A fact that came in handy when a couple soldiers tried to shoot her. They were armored so pure electricity wouldn't work, so instead she threw a knife directly between the two at 200 meters a second using her powers. While it missed both (deliberately) the shockwave that the superheated air caused by friction trailed behind the knife knocked them out as if a hand grenade had exploded near them.

Unfortunately that meant she needed to expend all of her electricity and was forced to recharge as she made her way to her destination. She was still not fully charged when she arrived, but that wasn't too large an issue considering there was only two guards who were easy enough to disable with a small shock to the back of the neck, one of the few unprotected areas.

She scanned the building with her glasses until she found what she was looking for, an air duct. After that it was a simple matter of putting the gas canister in, pulling the pin, then using her powers to activate the air conditioning so that the gas would be circulated throughout the building.

* * *

Kuroko, meanwhile, continued to eliminate the snipers, making her way through 5 more without issue. However when she reached the 11th, after she had eliminated him quickly and quietly as she had done the rest, she saw a small red dot appear on her chest. She had no time at all to react before the bullet hit her armor, piercing the knight-armor with ease and even making it past her far more durable armor underneath. As it did a couple of words passed through Kuroko's mind, words that she had been told shortly before she had received the armor: "nearly bullet-proof". While the armor could stand up to a flurry of assault rifle bullets, a powerful sniper rifle shooting armor piercing rounds was past its capabilities of protection, and the bullet tore through her chest, embedding itself directly between her heart and lungs, just barely missing both. The shockwave tore most of the surrounding blood vessels however causing some severe bruising while only the bullet itself was stopping the internal blood loss.

She staggered behind cover before the sniper could get another shot off. While the radios had been jammed so the sniper couldn't communicate with the rest of them, the sound still alerted the others. Now several red dots rested on the cover Kuroko was hiding behind.

Peeking out would be suicide so she couldn't let Kuro take over, but she was in too much pain to teleport. She could rest here until she was better but that would take too long, as would taking some pain killers or anesthetic, though she did that anyway. Though Kuroko had done quite a bit of training to be able to teleport while distracted this training did not extend to the distraction of pain from new injuries. Unlike the constant distraction of noise or a high paced battle or even the dull throbbing of older injuries, the sharp and random pain of new wounds made it impossible to completely phase out enough to teleport.

So she sat there, mind racing as she thought of ways to escape from this situation. Kuro sighed and then began to speak.  
_Misaka Mikoto..._ she began, moving quickly onto _Misaka Mikoto in a leotard_.

Immediately the mental image Kuroko had stored of that particular thing came flooding back to her. Her Onee-sama's lith, nubile body in a tight fitting piece of fabric revealing the smooth skin of her beautiful legs all the way up to her delicious thighs as they stretched themselves into the splits, showing the older girl's flexibility and all that implied.

Kuroko found herself drooling ever so slightly as they image flooded her mind, but still that left the question, "What are you doing Ku-"

_Misaka Mikoto in a school swimsuit._ Kuro said, interrupting her.

The image shifted to that of the schools pool. The swimsuit hugged even tighter to her humble but enticing curves than the leotard and left her deliciously muscled shoulders exposed as well. Her chestnut brown locks were wet -_Teleport- _darkened by water and stuck to the nape of her neck which, like the rest of her beautiful, beautiful body, glistened with water.

_Misaka Mikoto in a bikini._ Kuro continued as Shiro teleported towards the rest of the snipers, all her pain forgotten in favor of the Nirvana of these mental images which, unlike the pain, did not prevent her from teleporting.[1]

The image morphed to one of the electro-master in a pink bikini with images of Gekota over the areas of Kuroko's interest, hiding them and teasing her with the idea that such a beautiful sight as her Onee-sama's bare body was just underneath. Still the bikini had several advantages over the school swimsuit, first and foremost was the fact that it revealed the smooth taut skin of her Onee-sama's stomach and back that showed just how fit and lean the older girl was.

_Misaka Mikoto in a monokini_. At this point Shiro's nose was already bleeding from the images, but still Kuro went on and on, utilizing her knowledge of all of Shiro's sexual kinks, quirks, and preferences to keep the teleporter's mind off of her pain for long enough to take out all the 13 remaining snipers.

It was then that a series of three snaps sounded in Kuroko's ear. From what the code they had worked out, one snap meant trouble, two snaps meant delay, and three snaps meant completion. So she had successfully disabled the sleeping soldiers.

"I'm done here too," she broadcasted, "Let's meet up and-" she was interrupted when all the city's lights simultaneously shut off. The power lines under Oneeni's feet suddenly drained of electricity, sending the girl hurtling forward where she met a sudden stop on the asphalt of the street below. This greatly frustrated the clone who was now furiously brushing the dust off herself as she checked the suit for any damage or dirt.

"Change of plan," Kuroko said over the radio, "Go check out the power plant, I'll go to City Hall and see if I can't reclaim that while saving the hostage, All other troops, enter the city and begin taking down all hostiles you see. Make sure you don't kill them."

"Sir yes Sir!" they responded and flooded into the city to begin doing just that.

* * *

Oneeni snapped into the mic as she made her way to the power plant. Though as she did something was bugging her, the last thing that Kuroko had said.

'Kill,' the girl thought, rolling the syllables around in her mind. She had heard this trio of syllables [2] before but its meaning still escaped her. Even the dictionary definition was no help whatsoever. She decided to disregard it though, as it had nothing to do with her own orders.

She hadn't been too far from the power plant. The building's exterior was not damaged. She put her hand on one of the massive power cables that brought the power harvested from the city's nuclear reactors into the plant to be distributed throughout the city. From what she could feel the plant was still operating. It seemed that someone had turned off the switchboards rather than destroyed them. That would make things easier.

She snuck into the building, encountering only one person on the way. A swift knock to the trachea with her shepherd's crook sent him down where a quick follow up attack made sure he stayed.

She drew close to the room she had felt the power stop at, the master control room.

"You sure that they won't missile this place as well?" She heard one of the people ask. Like Kuroko she had been uploaded with all the information, including a korean language kit, so she easily understood.

"That's what they said. Too dangerous to target a nuclear plant. They just want to knock out the most dangerous places in the city so that we can't get our hands on them," another one replied.

"I don't care what they want to do, so long as I live long enough to get my money. I mean 2 million for this little job? That's what I'm talking about. North Korea doesn't pay nearly that amount."

"Plus don't forget the whole amnesty deal and citizenship thing. The North isn't a place to raise a family you know what I'm sayiiiiiii-" a fourth one said, only to be cut off by several thousand volts rampaging through his body.

A power plant was a perfect place for Oneeni to use her power. It had huge amounts of electricity handy that she could simply divert the flow of. In this case she diverted the flow into the light bulb that hung in the middle of the Master Control Room, causing it to explode and the excess electricity to jump to the nearest ground, which just so happened to be the heads of the four traitors who were standing in the room.

Now that they were dealt with, Oneeni went into the room and turned the switches back on, restoring power to the city. She snapped three times into her radio to say that she had completed her mission then began heading for Kuroko's location.

As the clone was skimming along the now functional power lines, the words of the four finally clicked inside her head. "you sure that they won't missile this place as well" one of them had said. Give their other words it wasn't hard to figure out what had happened. South Korea had obviously paid some of the invading force to turn off the power and therefore disable the defenses. With the defenses down they could easily destroy the city with missiles.

As if to confirm her theory several glowing spots appeared on the horizon. The defenses were still booting up and in the time it would take for them to get fully active half the city would be wiped from the face of the earth.

Had she been an ordinary person Oneeni would have panicked at this point. But she didn't really know how to panic. She had never really been in a situation where it was necessary. She had always been told what she needed to do. She relied on other peoples' orders to know how to act. Right now, however, she was in a situation where she had no orders on what to do in order to deal with this.

She had never had to come up with any solutions of her own, so right now, rather than think of a way to solve it, she simply ran through a list of the various orders she had been given, both tonight and over the course of her life.

Finally one among the many stood out. It had been the order of her mentor. Well... more advice than an order but still. She took the small blue covered book out of her inside jacket pocket and recalled her mentor's words regarding it, "If you are ever in trouble just place your spare rosary in your hand, count off the beads read the first half aloud."

She sighed as she fished her spare rosary out of her pocket, sparing a glance at the glowing dots that were drawing ever closer, then she began to read.

* * *

Kuroko, meanwhile, was at City Hall and was currently making her way throughout the building, defeating what enemies she could and teleporting the hostages up to the roof where they would be safe.

With liberal use of her teleportation she had rescued all of the hostages with only 56 bruises and a couple broken fingers to show for it. But though she had racked up quite the body count, she hadn't defeated all the enemies, the concentration of them within the building had been far too dense, so she had used hit and run tactics: prioritizing the rescue of the hostages over the defeat of the enemies. They could be dealt with another time.

Right now she was far too injured to try to bother teleporting further. The pain was leaking through and Kuro was running out of material to distract her with, so they finally gave it up as a lost cause and Kuro took over to begin the healing process. Oneeni had said she had finished so she got on the radio to give her a command as the City's leader walked over to her, wanting to speak with her.

Then a massive explosion resounded through the streets as Oneeni's life signs flatlined and her the signal from her tracker disappeared.

She held up a hand to the leader of the CIty and said, _"Hold on, I'll be back."_ as she ripped off a piece of sheet metal from the nearby electrical fence, her suit totally dampening the shock. '_of all times why right now? Right after we switched...' _Kuro lamented mentally as she ran towards the power cables that ran up to the roof of the building from the power lines below. She hopped onto them with the sheet metal beneath her like a snowboard and used her incredibly well developed sense of balance to steady her as she zipped down the thin cable at an ever increasing speed.

Just before she reached the power pole that was the source of the cable she leaped off, turning down the frictional coefficient of her armor's soles (a technology which came from studying Birdy's power and other, similar powers). The steep angle of descent ensured that most of her momentum was horizontal rather than vertical so this caused her to slide along the asphalt of the road at a high speed, much faster than if she was running.

That was an exceptionally dangerous method of getting down there... you are being very reckless. It is unlike you...

_"Ever since the Second Queen incident you and I have been very close, and more of your feelings are leaking through to me, whether I want them to or not. In this case it is your dam protectiveness for the pereskia manifesting itself in a similar desire to protect her clone."_ Kuro explained as she sped along in the direction the tracker had last been. When her current method of travel became impossible she purposefully fell forward onto her shoulder, skidding forward and quickly stopping.

Then she got back up and ran the rest of the way.

* * *

When she arrived there Shiro was relieved to see that Oneeni was still in one piece. In fact she was even standing, though just barely. She seemed exhausted and was sweating profusely as she cradled one arm.

Though happy to see that Oneeni was alive, it seemed like she might not stay that way that much longer. Two North Korean soldiers were standing in front of the clone, shotguns pointed right at her.

"If you're not going to answer the question," said the one who stood closest to her, just a couple feet in front. He pumped his shotgun in a show of force, "Then I'm afraid I'm going to have to ki-"

His threat was interrupted when Kuroko's feet met his head in a flying kick. Unfortunately she didn't have time to disable the other one before they got off a shot. All she could do was push Oneeni out of the way and hoped he missed. This she did, but unfortunately he did not do his part and miss.

The soldier did miss Oneeni, but in pushing her out of the way, Kuro had put her arm right where he had been aiming, or more specifically her shoulder. Due to the fact that the torso and arm pieces of her armor were separated, there was a gap between the two pieces: a gap which had been widened when Kuro had used it to stop her fall. This left just enough room for the shot to tear through the flesh, destroying enough of the young girl's small shoulder to cause the arm it supported to disconnect entirely and fall to the ground.

The trained soldier ignored this and pumped his shotgun, readying for another shot. However Kuroko was quicker. She summoned her grenade launcher into her hand, a singular thought from both personalities blocking out all pain: _How dare he try to hurt her_. She quickly disabled the grenade with a flick of her thumb and fired it at the soldier's helmeted head. The powerful hit knocked him out.

Now that they were dealt with Kuro turned to Oneeni and asked, _"Are you okay?"_

All exhaustion was forgotten as, once again, the clone found herself in a pseudo-panic and was unable to respond in her frantic desperation to figure out what to do. This time it was to no avail however as this situation was completely beyond her experience. After all... someone had just put themselves in harms way so that she wouldn't be hurt. She had no idea how to react to something like that, it had never happened before.

Kuro, however, was as calm as ever as she patted Oneeni's head. _"calm down,"_ she ordered, _"I need you to watch for people while I let myself heal. Ok?"_

Oneeni nodded as Kuro laid down on the ground, lining herself up with her arm. She remembered from what Lammington had told her that proximity to a fallen off limb would allow it to heal quicker.

And heal it did, surprisingly quickly as well. Despite the fact that it was a wound that was impossible to heal from blood she had lost, both before and after sustaining the wound, snaked back into the quickly rebuilt blood vessels as the bits of muscle and bone that were scattered reformed the connective tissue. Finally the skin itself closed, making it seem as if she had never been hurt at all. And all of this was in the span of five minutes as well.

During that time she coordinated the various teams of soldiers who were working hard to take down the remaining soldiers. They were very efficient, easily taking a good portion of the city within the fifteen minutes since the operation began. Within another fifteen minutes it was likely that they would take the entire city.

Once her shoulder was healed Kuro stood up, feeling very drained. She walked over to Oneeni who typed out a message on her wrist communicator. "Concerned Tone: are you alright?"

Kuro nodded, "I'm fine," she assured the other girl.

Oneeni nodded in kind, relieved. Then the clone promptly fainted. She had withstood the exhaustion for as long as she could but finally had to succumb.

Kuro caught her, then hefted her into her arms and kissed her letting Shiro take command again. Shiro dropped Oneeni off in a safe area then went to help the others, clearing any problem areas and rescuing any other hostages the NK forces had.

* * *

When that was done she went back to pick up Oneeni again then teleported back to the newly reclaimed City Hall.

The City's Leader talked to her. Thanking her for her service and asking if she was with Academy City.

"Yes. I am the Black Knight, agent of Academy City."

"Mhm. Well I'm as good as my word. We pledge allegiance to you and your city. The details have already been worked out so all that's left is to take care of the cleanup. Thank you very much for your help."

Kuroko nodded then teleported away, back to the spot where she had first arrived at. When she arrived she teleported away, back to Academy City where she reported in to Aleister, dropped off Oneeni, and went back home.

* * *

Between the Lines:2

"An interesting thing happened during the teleporter's mission," Aleister said to his associate, "20 Hyunmoo subsonic IIIA cruise missiles were launched by South Korea at Gwahag in an attempt to destroy vital structures in the city. Seconds before their impact all of our satellite feed and other sources of information and surveillance suddenly and mysteriously shut off for several seconds. When they came back on, all the missiles were gone with no sign of damage on any of the city's structures. Care to explain?"

"Sounds like you explained it pretty well," the associate said with a wry grin, "I wonder who did such a thing though... and for what purpose?"

"You are hiding something from me... and you can hardly do such a thing indefinitely..."

The associate shrugged, "Well all games of hide and go seek have an end. Luckily I was always quite good at that game." They said as they walked out of the room, "you're it."

* * *

[1]:Forget laughter, shameless fanservice is the best medicine.

[2]:As in my previous book they are all speaking Japanese unless otherwise indicated, so instead of having one syllable like it does in english, the word kill in Japanese, Korosu, has three syllables.

* * *

Author's Note: and with this chapter my fanfiction is now officially banned in North Korea (probably).

Anyway, here's another high action chapter for you. Just so you know I'm not going to have a separate chapter for each of the 27 Scientific Communities, but I wanted to show one at least.  
Oh, by the way. I'm planning an omake chapter(it has no bearing on the plot but I'll need one when things start getting heavy to lighten the mood) so if you have any good ideas for scenes I can have you can put it in a review or PM me.


	10. Toaru Jinsei no Jikan

とある人生の時間

Toaru Jinsei no Jikan

A Certain Time of Life

* * *

August 13th, 4:22 AM

Kuroko finally arrived back at her dorm after her long, painful night. She got changed into her nightdress and let down her hair. Then she went over to her Onee-sama's bed and sat down beside it, staring into the older girl's face. She wanted nothing more than to climb into the electro-master's grip and let the touch of the one she loved ease her pain, but right now she had something else she desperately needed to do.

She grasped her Onee-sama's hand in her own, reveling in the feel of the silken skin of her palm and fingers which was so unlike Kuroko's own calloused digits, The teleporter then rested her head on the bed, inhaling the scent of ozone that hung in the air around her girlfriend and one true love. She slowly and carefully took in everything about the moment. After all the chaos of tonight she needed this.

So she sat there for several minutes until finally she sighed and began speaking to her unconscious roommate. "You know Onee-sama, you're so beautiful right now, you always are. And that's what makes it so frustrating at times... I've moved past my doubts about your feelings for me, I trust that you love me, but I don't think you're ready to love me all the way like I am about you. Exploration, experimentation, that's fine, even children do that, but you're still not ready for it to mean anything are you? And that's assuming that you'd ever want to do anything like that, whether you find me attractive in that way, whether you're a bisexual, lesbian, or, more likely, I'm simply an exception to your heterosexuality."

"But I don't think you're even ready to begin considering that. You're far too naive and childish to begin thinking of such things and... I don't think I want to forcibly introduce them to you and change that. You know Onee-sama, I'm actually really envious of your naivity and childishness. I never really had a childhood, except for perhaps a couple of years back in first and second grade. I might have had support in other matters in my life but when it came down to it I've always had to rely on myself and myself alone. Everything I have I've had to work and suffer for with only a voice in my head to help me through it all. It's why I hate it so much when people say "you're just a child " or You're too young" when I've done as much to earn what I have then almost any adult. But even more than that it's because I've had to give up any childhood I could have had to do so."

"But you... you're a level five ESPer with abilities so far beyond my own and you still manage to still have a childhood, and a pretty good one from what I've heard. I'm sure you've had to suffer just as much as I have and yet you didn't let it break you, like it broke me."

* * *

The teleporter sighed again as she shifted her grip on the electro-master's hand, clasping it with both of hers now. But as her fingers brushed the older girl's wrist she noticed something. Her eyes widened.

"Onee-sama..." she began worried, "how much of that were you awake for?" She looked at the other girl's face as one of her eyes, which were currently shut unnaturally tight, opened. Her cheeks were colored with a deep red blush that was hard to make out in the dark.

"All of it..." Misaka whispered, her voice full of embarrassment and guilt.

"...Even..." Kuroko left off, her own face blanching a pale white to contrast Misaka's blazing red.  
Misaka shut her eyes tight again without answering, though that in and of itself was enough of an answer for the teleporter, who swiftly stood up and began walking towards the door, only to be stopped by Misaka's grip on her sleeve.

"I'm sorry," Kuroko said quickly, "I didn't know you were awake... no wait that makes it sound even worse... I... I'm sorry. I showed you a really bad side of me. Just forget what I said and... did."  
"I... I can't forget what you said," Misaka replied, her voice was shaky but there was a small hint of resolve there too.

"I didn't mean to unload on you like that... you have enough troubles of your own without worrying about me. So just forget it..."

Misaka inhaled deeply, gathering her courage and trying, with only marginal success, to dispel her embarrassment. Then she stood up. The grip she had on Kuroko's sleeve tightened, "Sit on the bed," she ordered. This time her voice was far steadier, with an authority that the teleporter had never been able to deny.

So Kuroko sat down on Misaka's bed, though her gaze still did not meet her Onee-sama's, a fact that the electro-master was actually glad about. The older girl took a few seconds to collect her thoughts and decide on a course of action. Finally she was ready.

She reached over to the mound of stuffed animals on the end of her bed and chose a small teddy bear from the pile. She placed the stuffed toy into Kuroko's arms and pushed the teleporter down onto the bed so she was lying down. Then, after she had tucked the younger girl in, she turned on the lights and walked over to the bookshelf with an order for Kuroko to "wait". She browsed the bookshelf until finally the electro-master came across what she was looking for. She took the book out and walked back over to the bed, sitting down on the edge and clearing her throat.

* * *

The older girl took another deep breath and began reading, "Once upon a time there was a brave knight named Kuroko who travelled the mystical land of Academia battling monsters and rescuing people. In her travels this knight came across a small kingdom called Tokiwadai in which lived a beautiful princess named Misaka."

"However all was not peaceful in this kingdom. In the nearby mountains lived an evil wizard called... known as The Dorm Mistress who was terrorizing the kingdom with the help of a fearsome dragon called Detention."

"Upon entering the kingdom the knight soon saw the beautiful princess who was sitting by the river minding her own business and not causing any trouble. So smitten was the knight that she immediately tried to woo the princess. However the resulting ruckus caused the evil wizard to take notice and immediately the dragon was upon them. Despite the best efforts of both the knight and the princess they were brought to the wizards tower where they were forced to clean the entire thing before the wizard let them go."

"Still the knight was nothing if not persistent and, ignoring all the trouble she had caused for the princess, still continued to try and woo her. however her attempts were met with rejection time and time again as the evil wizard and dragon continued harassing the pair."

"After a month of this though there arose a new threat, another evil sorceress who sought to kill the princess and take the throne for herself."

"Now that her precious princess was in danger the brave knight donned her armor and did everything she could do to protect her beloved princess. However when she fought the evil sorceress she was gravely injured. Upon seeing the knight who had given everything for her mortally wounded, the princess wept tears of grief."

"Then a miracle happened. The tears that the princess wept brought the knight back to life and the newly healed knight proceeded to defeat the evil sorceress. However just when the pair thought that the battle was over the sorceress morphed into a mighty dragon. The battle was long and fierce but finally the knight managed to defeat the dragon as well. Then the brave knight Kuroko and the beautiful princess Misaka lived happily ever after together. The end."

* * *

Kuroko's hair hung over her eyes and the stuffed bear she clung to herself covered the rest of her face. Her voice was slow and steady, as if she was trying hard to rein in tears, "That... that was the first time anyone's ever read me a bedtime story..." Then she glanced upwards, revealing her sparkling eyes and wide smile, "and my first story was so awful," she began with a giggle, as she tried hard to keep her laughing quiet so as not to wake anyone up, forgetting that she had long since soundproofed the walls (for obvious reasons). "You forgot to resolve the initial conflict, leaving the kingdom still terrorized. Plus there was no sense of setting or time to it along with numerous other issues."

"But," the teleporter continued, just as the now quite offended Misaka was about to retort, "The ending makes it all worth it..." the younger girl said as she hugged her roommate.

The offended remark died in the electro-master's throat. Instead she sighed and stroked Kuroko's hair, "The story in the book is kind of... depressing, so I ended up ad-libbing everything after the dragon thing."

"It showed," the teleporter admitted, stifling her giggles in her Onee-sama's lap, "but trying to adapt it doesn't always work. The princess was stronger than the knight in your story..."

"Says the only person ever to beat me in a fight..." Misaka countered, her voice a little sharp with the bitterness of a wounded pride but at the same time soft with the comfort of a doting mother.

"That hardly counts; I only beat you because I got the drop on you. When it comes to powers like ours it's first draw first blood. Either way it doesn't matter, that was in another life for me. By the way... what is this about anyway, the story and the bear?"

"Well," Misaka began sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head, "I know I can't give you your childhood back, but I figure I can at least show you a bit of what you missed... you know? A bedtime story seemed like a good idea... and as for the bear... you don't have any stuffed animals of your own so I thought I'd let you borrow him..."

Silenced reigned for a few seconds until Misaka spoke up again, excited now. "hey, why don't you and I go out today to that toy store that you told me about before? We can get you a stuffed animal of your own?"

Kuroko smiled even wider as she turned around to stare up at the older girl. "That sounds wonderful," she said.

"What's kind should we get you I wonder... What's your favorite animal?"

"Hmm... I guess a raven. As long as they're not annoying know-it-alls..." she said, "there is just something so annoying about a bird speaking down to you, you know?"

"... no... can ravens even speak? I thought that was parrots."

"A number of birds are capable of mimicking human speech; parrots are just the most famous. Ravens have a weird garbled, kinda raspy voice but they are capable of imitating human speech as well or better than parrots, and they are far more intelligent as well."

"Ok, we'll get you a stuffed raven if we can find one."

"That sounds nice," Kuroko sighed.

MIsaka nodded and looked over at the alarm clock. It was early again. Had Kuroko been lying about her nightmares being over? Were they still waking her up every night?

"Um... O-Onee-sama... can I ask you for one more thing?" Kuroko said, her voice surprisingly nervous and... embarrassed. She had a slight blush and was avoiding eye contact.

Something that could even make Kuroko blush with embarrassment was, in Misaka's experience, something to be avoided at all cost, considering how shameless she normally was. Still... she was awfully cute right now... Misaka decided to at least hear her out, she could punish her later if it was too adult a suggestion, "what?"

Kuroko didn't answer her. Instead she sat up and went over to her desk. Then the younger girl took out a piece of paper and began writing something down. After a couple of minutes she walked back to the bed and handed her the piece of paper and a small porcelain box with a key sticking out of the side. The teleporter then resumed her previous position in bed, with her head in her Onee-sama's lap, though still avoiding eye contact. She said one single word in the shaky, embarrassed voice that was so rare, "sing..."

Misaka looked at the piece of paper and saw that it had something like lyrics written on it with 18 syllables each line to form a sort of rhythm. the words seemed vaguely familiar, Misaka vaguely remembered Kuroko singing this same song to her last night. She looked at the box and turned the key. A somewhat sad, haunting melody drifted from the box. At the melody alone Kuroko seemed to relax greatly.

Misaka took a deep breath and sang along with the melody to the best of her ability.  
When she was done the music streaming from the box was just beginning to peter out. There were several seconds of silence afterwards as Misaka's blush deepened at the embarrassing display.

* * *

Then Kuroko smiled and said, "thank you."

"It's a pretty song but I've never heard it before... what is it called?' Misaka asked.

"It's a lullaby I wrote, I never really gave it a name though. Bedtime stories are fine but I've always wanted someone to sing me to sleep..."

"You wrote it?"

Kuroko nodded, "I wrote the first version when I was two, but I've modified it since then."

'my only friend,' Misaka repeated part of the song in her mind. The lyrics were quite sad and lonely. How had she grown up to have that much sorrow by the time she was two?

"Get some rest Kuroko, we have a big day ahead of us," the older girl said as she turned off the lights. She decided that she would ask about it tomorrow.

Kuroko sat up straight again with a smile, "good night kiss?"

Misaka rolled her eyes then fell back onto the pillow, dragging Kuroko down with her, "geez," she said, "give an inch and you take a mile don't you?"

"Better to try and be rebuked than to not try and regret it."

"Not to me..."

"...Are you happy Onee-sama?"

"...Yeah... Are you?"

"Yeah..."

"Good..."

There were a couple seconds of silence before Kuroko spoke up again, "I'll expect two good morning kisses to make up for the lack of a good night one."

-Zap- "Shut up"

* * *

August 13th 9:37 AM

"You are so embarrassing you know that... following me around for half the morning with that fish face..." Misaka reprimanded the younger girl with annoyance.

"I got my two kisses in the end though," Kuroko gloated.

"I am this close to just leaving you here and going ahead on my own," the older girl used her fingers to indicate just how close she was to this particular course of action.

"But... then I'll never have a stuffed animal of my own," the teleporter pouted, making the most pitiful yet adorable face she could make. A tactic that was clearly successful given the blush that appeared on the electro-master's face as a result.

"J-Just behave yourself okay?" the clearly flustered girl warned half-heartedly.

Kuroko answered with a smile and fell in line next to the other girl. Several minutes then passed in silence before Misaka said, "Hey Kuroko... what's my favorite animal?"

"Any cute or fuzzy one that appears in front of you; though you have a particular like of cats and amphibians," she answered immediately, sounding as knowledgeable as a sage.

"What's my favorite color?"

"Blue. Your favorite food is strawberry shortcake, your favorite..." For the next three minutes she continued listing off facts about Misaka, finishing off with something she probably should have asked first, "why?"

"I wondered how much you knew about me... and you didn't disappoint. I didn't even know when your birthday was until a few days before it happened," the older girl sounded somewhat saddened by this, "I guess I'm not a very good friend am I? Let alone girlfriend."

"Ever since that bank robbery last year I have been careful to get as much information as possible before I rush into things. Add that to my unhealthy obsession for you and it would be hard to beat the disturbing amount of knowledge I have."

'She admits that she's obsessive...' Misaka thought as she sweatdropped, "Still I'd like to know more about you..."

Kuroko quieted down for a while then said, "I don't like talking about myself..."

The electro-master knew that it wouldn't be that easy. Still, now was hardly the time to give up. "and I don't like holding hands in public..."

Kuroko looked at the electro-master. Was the older girl... bartering with her... In that case, "you like kissing in public even less..." she counter-offered.

Their gazes met as this newest deal was proposed. "One kiss and that's it?"

Kuroko shook her head, "If it's a small question then that will be covered by the handholding but when it comes to bigger things... things about my past... that's at least five seconds of kissing per question, three with tongue."

"That's a complete rip-off," Misaka retorted.

"I feel like I should talk about it with you, since you are my girlfriend and if anyone has a right to know it's you... still... I really don't want to. A little motivation can get rid of that issue easily though."

"I understand that much but that's a heck of a lot to ask for."

"It's proportional to my desire to not talk about it.

"... Is it really that painful to talk about?"

Again Kuroko fell eerily silent. "Just forget about it..." she said and quickened her pace.

* * *

Misaka was quick to catch her however, grabbing her by the hand and intertwining their fingers.  
"You said this was enough for the smaller questions right? We can start with those at least." Misaka conceded. A squeezing of her hand told her that Kuroko understood and agreed.

"Favorite color?" the older girl began.

"Kuro (black)."

"Favorite book?"

"Don Quixote."

"Favorite food?"

"You" -zap- "Oww... Fine... There is this doctor that I know and he makes the best cookies I have ever tasted... so probably those."

As the older girl considered other questions the breadth of her lack of knowledge truly showed itself. "Do you have any siblings?" she had to ask, not knowing the answer herself.

"None that I'm aware of."

"What do your parents do for a living." She asked. Then she felt Kuroko's grip grow stronger by several degrees, enough to cause a bit of pain.

"I don't know..." was the response.

"They must make quite a bit of money to send you to Tokiwadai."

"I earn the money that pays for my tuition myself."

"What? How?"

"That goes beyond what I'm willing to give out for this..." Kuroko said in an almost mechanical voice that became more distant with each sentence out of her mouth.

Misaka sighed. Kuroko really was more trouble than she was worth at times...

…

"Happy now?"

"Oh so much," Kuroko sighed.

"Then answer the question," Misaka urged, her curiosity overriding her embarrassment.

"Investment."

"WHAT?! That's it?! I just... for that? Ughh... why did you say you didn't know before?!"

"You misunderstand. I'm saying the money I get is from investing. I told you that that's how I'd earn money when we get married so I could spend as much time as possible with the kids didn't I? It's also how I pay for tuition and all the property damage and other fines you rack up. Even that necklace was hand paid by me."

"What? How can you make that much money?"

"I had help. But I'll grant you it took quite a bit of work. It was one of the reasons I didn't really have a childhood, I was always looking for ways to become able to support myself."

"Why?"

"I don't like relying on others..." Kuroko waved off, but the fact was that she hadn't really had anyone to rely on, even if she wanted to.

"So is your family even rich? You go to Tokiwadai and you act like such a high class lady all the time so I kind of assumed..."

"I don't know. Our house was quite big so I think so. But it has been over eight years now."

"Don't you keep in touch with them?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't care. They don't either. I haven't spoken to them in thirteen years," Kuroko said, her previously happy voice now angry and bitter. Then suddenly Misaka's arms wrapped around her in a quick hug.

"Would you like to stop for some cake?" the older girl asked, deciding that this was enough for the moment.

* * *

Kuroko nodded sedately and followed Misaka into a nearby cake shop. She soon cheered up again with Misaka's company. The older girl stopped asking questions about the past but still did ask about more lighthearted things. Things that she thought a friend should know. Kuroko was more than happy to answer these.

'-47," the younger girl finished.

"I never asked about your three sizes,' the older girl sighed getting ever so slightly annoyed while at the same time happy Kuroko had gone back to her normal chipper self.

"Speaking of sizes," the teleporter segued easily but fairly nonsensically, "I'd have to see how you look in a dress but I might just let you be the one to wear a tuxedo."

Not even a hard punch to the top of her head was enough to wipe off the distant smile on Kuroko's face. There were times when such a hit was followed by the exasperated question, whether mental or aloud, "Why do I hang out with this girl." This was, however, not one of those times. That bright smile and those shining eyes did a good job of reminding Misaka why, even angry at her like she was now, she bothered hanging out with the younger girl. Not that that stopped her wishing that her girlfriend had a mute button, and a stop button… and perhaps a 'get some damn clothes on" button...

As Misaka continued her mental list of the various buttons and commands she thought that the teleporter could use, they finally arrived at the toy store. They spent a while there before leaving and going various other places that Misaka thought were essential childhood experiences. Kuroko appreciated the thought and enjoyed her Onee-sama's company immensely, so she was plenty happy to play along.

When all of that was done they went back home.

* * *

When Misaka had fallen asleep at around 10, Kuroko snuck out as usual to her lessons, and after that to the windowless building where received a new mission to persuade a new ally to join. The target this time was a city in the Himalayas in a remote part of Nepal. It specialized in mining technology and was a fantastic source for natural resources.

The crisis this time involved a cave-in in one of their primary mines that had trapped several people. While the people could survive for quite a bit longer, the cave in had damaged the support structures so there was no way to remove the obstructions without making the cave collapse.

With Kuroko's power, however, replacement support structures could be teleported into place without disturbing the cave in, and she could even get rid of the obstructive rock using her Horn of Gabriel storage method.

So she teleported there and got to work immediately, teleporting the steel beams that made the support structure piece by piece into place. Then she stored the smaller rocks into one of her charms and broke up the larger ones using small amounts of explosives right in the middle of the rocks, pulverizing them without causing the cave in to worsen.

Of course this strain couldn't go on for that long and she soon grew very strained so Kuro decided to take over while she recovered a little bit. Kuro didn't have the same capabilities but she could use her immense strength to clear out more of the rocks and just taking over the body was enough to allow Shiro to recover far more quickly than if she was in control.

While she did so Kuro began to speak with Oneeni, who was accompanying her but wasn't actually too helpful for this mission, other than holding the light source. _"How old are you?"_ she asked her casually.

"Two-ish I think," was her response, delayed by the time it took to type it out.

"_Only two yet you're effectively 14... it seems your childhood was taken away from you too, wasn't it, though the reasons are so different from Shiro's."_

"What do you mean?"

Kuro looked at the clone, _"Shiro is sensitive about it so I'm not at liberty to talk without her approval, and even if I had it now is not the time. Later we may talk about it though. In the meantime I had a question for you. What made you so exhausted back in Gwahag?"_

Rather than trying to explain she fished out the blue covered book and handed it to Kuro, who stopped her work to take a look.

The writing in the book was neat and small. It was written in Japanese but had another sort of writing underneath it like subtitles. The Japanese writing was mostly long mathematical equations with a few short and fairly nonsensical sentences in between. She glanced down at the subtitles to see if she could make any more sense of it through them, but as soon as she glanced at it a splitting headache ran through her cranium and she was forced to look away.

Why did you look away? I was trying to read it.

"_You didn't feel that Shiro?" _Kuro asked, surprised. She had thought Shiro shared all her pain.

No I didn't.

"_What did it say?"_

It was a whole bunch of ones and zeroes, like binary. Anyway, I'm better now so we can switch back.

Kuro figured that she could look through it later and gave the book back to Oneeni, whom she then gestured over where the two kissed to turn the body back over to Shiro.

As time went on Oneeni was beginning to dislike this part more and more. Not because it was unpleasant though, in fact its pleasantness was the act's one redeeming factor. Rather than that it was because it meant that Kuro was going back inside. Shiro was nice but didn't really talk to her and always acted oddly. Kuro actually interacted with her normally, something the clone was grateful for. Kuro was probably the girl's first friend ever and it was sad when she had to go.

Kuroko finished up quickly then teleported back. She dropped off Oneeni then settled back into bed, careful not to wake her Onee-sama up for the third night in a row.

* * *

August 14th, 8:14 AM

To Misaka's surprise Kuroko actually asleep next to her. After two nights of waking up in the middle of the night she had thought that she was sneaking out at night.

Misaka glanced at the girl's face with it's peaceful smile that the younger girl only ever allowed herself in sleep. Misaka reached up and brushed a strand of hair from the teleporter's face, tucking it behind her ear.

She watched the girl's chest rise and fall beneath the see through negligee that she wore, made especially revealing by the younger girl's lack of a bra.

She thought about what the girl had said yesterday while she had thought Misaka was asleep. Though she would never admit it she was far less naive than Kuroko thought she was and much of what she had said had crossed the electro-master's mind before, several times actually. Unfortunately she had yet to answer even the most basic of those questions. The only thing she knew for certain was that she wasn't ready for that kind of relationship right now. She wasn't sure she ever would be.

It wasn't that she wasn't attracted to her girlfriend, it was more that the entire concept seemed so... frightening. She wasn't naive so she understood the consequences of what Kuroko wanted better than Kuroko herself probably did. She was scared of doing anything meaningful because the meaning was so powerful. She really loved Kuroko but she just wasn't ready. All she could do was hope that Kuroko would understand and not press it too much.

Until then...

* * *

August 14th, 8:58

After Kuroko woke up the pair got ready then went out for another day of making up a lost childhood, interrupted by Kuroko's Judgment work but even then they managed to do a few things while she was out on patrol. After that they went home and went to bed. Then Kuroko went to the usual place for her lesson. Afterwards, just as she was about to leave with Oneeni, Lammington told her that Aleister requested that she come alone, so she did so, leaving without the clone who seemed slightly disappointed at the news.

August 15th, 12:03 AM

As Kuroko teleported into the chamber she was surprised to see that Alesiter was not in his normal place inside the tube, but instead standing right in front of her.

"Good evening child," he said and rested his hand on her head, patting it a couple of times then touching the ribbon that she had in her hair.

Though the action surprised Kuroko it was not unwelcome. It wasn't the first time he had done it. He sometimes did it while she was in the hospital in order to comfort her.

Aleister had been the first person that Kuroko could actually rely upon other than herself. he had helped her despite the fact that she didn't deserve the help, had been kind despite the fact that she did not deserve the kindness.

He was the closest thing to a father she had, and he was a much better father than her own. He was kind and caring, he comforted her when she needed it and helped her where he could.

He really would be a good father for her.

* * *

Between The Lines: 3

August 14th, 11:17 PM

Many minutes had passed since the man had first walked into Aleister's chamber. This entire duration there had been complete silence save for the steady beeping of machinery. Aleister had not even glanced in the man's direction yet, and he continued to refuse to do so even as he spoke to him.

"What are you doing here Heaven Canceler," he said, an odd bitterness in his usually calm and steady voice.

"Maintaining the machines that preserve your life as I do every couple weeks," The doctor said, ignoring the obvious resentment that hung in the air.

"The machines are fully functional so do not worry yourself about my life. Just... leave."

Heaven Canceller sighed, "As you wish." Following the patient's wishes were more important than common sense after all. If the patient didn't care about their life the doctor couldn't do anything about it unless they were in a coma. So he left as instructed, heading back to his hospital. On his way out he saw another person enter the room.

The associate walked into the room with a slight smile on his face and began to speak to the floating magician, "H-"

-5 minutes later-

Heaven Canceller looked at his latest patient, the person who had entered Aleister's room right after him. The doctor had guessed it would come to this and had already prepared equipment to repair the person's jaw, but he was not quite expecting this. The person's jaw was indeed blown off but that was not all, through into every inch of their flesh was embedded a nasty looking spike.

Despite this, the person's eyes betrayed no pain, only annoyance, disappointment, and a bit of amusement.

Heaven Canceller reattatched the jaw and got to work pulling out the spikes. As he did the person began speaking, "didn't even manage to get out a single word..."

"This is not a day to tease him, as you well know."

"Yeah but he only reacted this strongly because you were there first. I might have gotten off a sentence before he did this had you not been there."

"And what purpose would that sentence have served."

"To remind him of the foolishness of his plan, and perhaps open his eyes, make him see that there is more to the world than his machinations and that ribbon haired girl. He lets himself be far too affected by her."

"Then why do you allow yourself to go along with it?" Heaven Canceller asked.

"You know why. Even though the plan is going to fail I still benefit. If I play along I might even be able to see my father again."

Heaven Canceller took the next spike out very slowly.

"Oh yeah, you don't like him much do you? Ever since he-"

Heaven Canceller put the person's jaw on a nearby table, "I'm not sure you need that right now so we'll just keep it there for the time being."

* * *

Author's Note: This is probably the very last chapter with Misaka and Kuroko in this sort of dynamic. After this Misaka enters the main plot and her actions and feelings are beyond my control. There may be a few more chapter like this later on in the story but it's doubtful I will have many opportunities.


	11. Toaru Judgment no Hakurankai

とある風紀委員の博覧会

Toaru Judgment no Hakurankai

A Certain Judgment Fair

* * *

August 15th, 12:07AM

"What I am about to tell you must be kept strictly confidential," Aleister began, "Lammington, Vyers, Heaven Canceller and I are the only people to know this information and I wish it to be kept that tight a secret. Understood?"

"Of course Aleister-sama," Kuroko agreed.

With a nod of the magician's head a screen came on and an image was projected onto the wall. It was an image of a vaguely familiar spiky headed teenager. "That is Touma," Aleister informed her, "he is a central element to my plans and a powerful weapon in the wrong hands."

"Is he a magician?" she asked, guessing that he wasn't an ESPer from the fact that he was not one of the 7 level fives and thus likely to not be a very powerful one, not powerful enough for Aleister-sama to concern himself over.

"No. He is the current master of the Aeon of Set, making him potentially one of the most powerful people on the planet. The Aeon of Set is capable of sending energy and mass from earth to heaven and hell respectively. The master of the Aeon also has the additional trait of being half demonic which causes madness and destroys a person's empathy and morality, turning them onto a path of evil and destruction. However I managed to seal the majority of his power into his right arm making that the only demonic part of him. I also cast an enchantment or two to increase his empathy, selflessness, and moral code in order to eliminate these side effects, though given his recent behavior I might have made these enchantments too powerful.

"The seal also has the benefit of sticking him in a constant state of level one awakening, a state that, for the Aeon of Set, causes any magic or ESPer power to be nullified within a small radius of the arm. What makes this power so dangerous are the other two stages, in which all forms of mass and energy are sent to heaven and hell, effectively making him a human black hole that is capable of destroying anything."

"Luckily only 5 people, including yourself now, know of the whole story, meaning no one can exploit it. However there are various people who have an inkling of the power, some more dangerous than others. There is an Egyptian cult who worship the Aeons like gods and for one in particular Touma is seen as the incarnation of Set and a living god. While they have not been a threat until now, it seems that they have managed to figure out what he is and where he is. They will be arriving here on the 16th, but they cannot enact their plan until the 18th. You have until then to stop them.

"From what I understand there may also be cultists from the rival cult, the cult of Ma'at, who are coming in to stop them as well. They may aid you if you can find them. Understood?"

"Yes Aleister-sama."

"Good. Then proceed as usual with your missions. Today you will be going to an island in Indonesia. Go and get Oneeni then leave immediately."

"Yes Aleister-sama." she said and disappeared.

* * *

During the mission she realized that it was the 15th today, meaning that she had the Judgment public appeal event. It also meant that the entire population of scum and delinquents would be out on the street causing trouble with nobody to stop them.

Then her eyes rested upon Oneeni and an idea struck her.

She decided to raise the question shortly before they left to go home. "Hey Oneeni," she began, "could you do something for me?"

The clone looked at her and nodded.

"Good. I need you to look after our branch's jurisdiction while we're gone tomorrow. Just go around and if you see someone breaking a law knock them out." the teleporter's Judgment armband appeared in her hand and she gave it to Oneeni, "since I'm Chief of Intelligence both Anti-Skill and Judgment fall under my jurisdiction, so it is within my power to deputize you temporarily and give you the authority to make arrests."

Oneeni nodded again and put on the armband.

"I'll fill you in on the rest of the details when we get back," she informed and then grabbed the other girl and they disappeared.

She spent the rest of the night teaching Oneeni what she would need to know and filing the necessary paperwork (helped by Vyers who was far more experienced with the system than herself) then she went back home.

* * *

August 15th, 8:27 AM

"Today's the day," a man said in a singsong voice as he spun around in his comfortable desk chair like an excited child, "I love this, I really love this. Such boundless fun... it's making my heart race." He stood up and looked out of the window of his office towards the boundless cityscape. "Thank you world for being such a fun place, but more so... thank you humans for being such terrible degenerate beings. You make things oh so entertaining, you really do."

He turned back to his computer and smiled at the screen, "especially you Shirai Kuroko, miss scourge of crime. It's your big day you know? I wonder what fun there will be? What fun we can make?"

The man got a cell phone out of his pocket with an evil grin. "Only one way to find out."

* * *

August 15th, 7:00

Konori opened her eyes as her alarm clock blared on the night stand. She reached over to turn it off. But before she could do so, it suddenly shot backwards, ramming into the wall and breaking.

Konori frowned and sat up. Then she grabbed her pillow and hit the person laying down next to her with it. "That is the thirteenth alarm clock of mine that you've broken Aomi, and what the heck are you doing in my bed."

"I had a fight with my boyfriend last night," Yanagisako Aomi, Konori's roommate, explained as she put her head in the other girl's lap, "I thought I could talk to you and complain about it like usual, but when I came home you had knocked yourself out with glasses of warm milk. I had to carry you to bed myself. The least you could have done for that was keep me company. And the alarm clock was your fault. Setting it so early... it was a natural reflex."

"Unlike you I have a big day ahead of me," Konori said harshly, not having time to listen to her roommate whine endlessly about her love life.

However the other girl did not seem to get that message, "you have it easy," she reached up and groped Konori's generous breasts, "with these you could get any guy you wanted."

In response the large chested girl blushed and batted her roommate's hands away, then pushed her off of her entirely. There weren't many people who could surprise the clairvoyant easily, but Aomi was one of them. "I said I don't have time," she re-emphasized.

"Huh... oh yeah, your thing's today isn't it? I'll be rooting for you." Then the brown haired girl looked at the clock, "but isn't it at noon? Why wake up so early?"

"There are things that need to be done in preparation," Konori said as she went over to her wardrobe to get the clothes she had recently bought.

"You look a little nervous. Anyone might look at you and think you were going on a date with some hot stud. That hot stud only wishes you treated him as well as you treat work."

"Well someone has to take their job seriously around here. God knows you don't. You better work today, no excuses."

"No fair... Mii-chan gets to have all the fun while I have to work?"

"We're not on a vacation, we're working too. We're representing Judgment in front of a lot of people today. We worked hard for it."

"Oh... so that's what this is about..." Aomi said, walking over to the other girl. Now she could tell that Konori was stressed out because of more than just the appeal event. Since her roommate always listened to her whining, the least that Aomi could do to pay her back was return the favor, "It's your kohai isn't it?"

Konori sighed, "When she first joined I tried to keep her away from the action because she was a little too enthusiastic without enough respect for authority. After Uiharu joined she got better for a while but now she's just reverting. But then I look at this and i wonder... am I actually concerned or am I just jealous. Those two did things that I could never do, they solved some amazing cases and saved a lot of people. Now that Kuroko's gone back to how she was before and I see the results... I have to wonder if I was ever concerned about her or if I was just too afraid of being upstaged to utilize her potential from the beginning."

"The only way to tell, I guess, is to look at the times they fail. If you were relieved then you are jealous, if you were even more worried, then your concern is genuine. And from what I hear from you it is definitely the latter. When they succeed your second reaction is always pride while your first is worry. That is not how a jealous person feels," Aomi comforted her friend as she helped her get ready for her big day.

"I guess that makes sense," Konori acceded, though not entirely convinced.

"How have things been going over there anyway?"

"Well as you say there isn't too much trouble happening recently. Uiharu seems to have relaxed a little bit but Kuroko gets more and more uptight by the day. She still wears that armor padding every day." she informed, having noted the presence of that particular detail a while ago using her power.

"Have you asked her about that yet?"

"I decided not to. It keeps her safe and that's good enough for me. She's a rich girl so I'm sure she just bought it with her parent's money or something. Nothing worth investigating or worrying about."

"She still all depressed?"

"No, she seems quite happy actually. Uiharu as well."

"What about their two friends?"

"Saten comes around almost every day with Uiharu and distracts her all the time. But she seems much happier with her around so I figure I can let it slide since there isn't much for her to do anyway. Misaka, however, is coming around less and less, and when she does she acts a bit strangely. I might think that she and Kuroko were fighting but Kuroko's way too happy for something like that."

"So your kohai's still obsessed with that level five even though they're both girls?" Aomi asked as they moved to the kitchen for breakfast. Konori always talked about work and that was kind of boring. Aomi much preferred to talk about the people at work than the work itself, even if their kohai were an odd bunch.

"Yeah. And it's gotten even worse. I think she's corrupted Uiharu. I walked in on her and Saten kissing right in the office," Konori mentioned, her friend always bringing out her inner gossip.

"Really?!" Aomi exclaimed, "Maybe it's the air in that place eh?" A grin spread across her face, "How about it? Am I looking especially attractive to you today? You want to kiss?"

The milk that Konori had been drinking rapidly left her mouth in a spit take of surprise, drenching the puckering Aomi.

Considering the fight that followed Konori was glad she had woken up early.

* * *

August 15th, 7:45

A loud blaring filled Uiharu's tiny apartment as the alarm clock went off. The tired girl fumbled around for it but as she reached over she only managed to unbalance herself and tumble out of bed onto the floor. She lay there for a second until she sat up and turned off her alarm clock to stop the annoying beeping, an odd sense of deja-vu hanging over her as she did so.

She hadn't gotten much sleep last night as it was and the early meeting time hardly helped the matter. She had little more than an hour to get herself ready to be in front of a large crowd of people. So she stumbled into the bathroom for a shower.

When she was done she got dressed in an outfit she thought was nice. then she decided to put on some makeup to go the extra mile.

Finally she was ready, and just in time for the doorbell to ring. She went over and answered. As expected it was Saten, who smiled happily at her friend, "Hey U...i...ha" she began, her face falling as she spoke. Then a grin appeared and she burst out into laughter, "What is that? Don't you have your thing today? Are you planning on going out like that?"

Uiharu blushed as she figured out the reason for the long haired girl's teasing, a blush that wasn't visible under the heavy makeup she had on. Embarrassed she slammed the door on her "friend".

The laughter died quickly after that. "Come on Uiharu, I didn't mean it like that..." Saten said apologetically, realizing her actions might have been a little... mean.

"Hmph," was the flower headed girl's only reply.

"I'm sorry."

"Hmph."

"I love you," Saten pleaded, pulling out the big guns.

Surprisingly this seemed to work and the door cracked open, though Uiharu's head was bowed down so Saten couldn't see her face.

"I didn't think that would work... I'm sorry about that. I couldn't really help it." Saten repeated.

"I'm not used to it, I never really put on makeup."

"Well I guess it can't be helped. Just leave it to me. I read all types of fashion magazines so I know just what to do. Starting with that outfit."

"What's wrong with the outfit," Uiharu huffed indignantly.

"The shirt's too formal, it clashes with the pants," Saten explained as she went over to the flower headed girl's wardrobe and rooted around in it for perhaps the hundredth time. She knew it as well as she knew her own, "but even worse than that, the true travesty... you're wearing pants!" Saten turned around and used her hands, waving them about in big extravagant gestures, to try to properly convey just how big a catastrophe this event was.

Uiharu's blush deepened as she grew more flustered, stuttering as she tried to defend herself, "I don't know quite what I'll be doing today so I figured it would be better to go with something more comfortable."

"But panties..." Saten whined like a little child causing Uiharu to bury her face in the nearest pillow. "Wait, don't do that, you haven't washed off the make-up yet." the level zero went to the kitchen to get a washcloth and tried to coax her friend out of her embarrassed retreat and wipe the excessive amounts of makeup from her face.

'If you want to insist on pants here," the long haired girl sighed and handed the flower-headed girl a nice, but not overly formal, blouse along with a pair of simple, comfortable pants that matched it quite well, "Get changed quickly so I can start on properly applying some make-up."

"H-hai!" Uiharu exclaimed as she rushed into the bathroom to do just that.

When she came back Saten was all ready with the make-up kit and was sitting with a big smile on her face, "the four leaf clover ones eh? Should have guessed."

For a second Uiharu wondered how she could have known if she was still wearing pants, but then she remembered that she had forgotten to close the door to the bathroom while she was getting changed. Despite her ability to resist temperature change her face began radiating heat as powerfully as the sun as this fact dawned on her. She would probably have retreated under her covers again had Saten not pushed her into a chair so she could start putting on her make up. Her embarrassment was hardly helped by the distance, or lack thereof, between the other girl's face and her own. She applied mascara and foundation in the appropriate quantities rather than the gobs that Uiharu herself had put on.

"This is one of the biggest mistakes, the lipstick," the level zero continued sagely, utilizing all the knowledge gained by reading countless fashion magazines, "It was completely the wrong shade and pretty much the wrong choice to begin with. Lip gloss would be much better. It's what I usually wear and it's far more subtle."

"Do you have your cake flavored one with you?" Uiharu suddenly asked, having finally gotten over her embarrassment at their proximity in favor of something else entirely.

This time it was Saten's turn to blush. For the past while now she had, indeed, taken to wearing that particular flavor. Still she didn't think that Uiharu would have noticed. "No I don't, other than what I have on right now." she explained. This turned out to be the wrong choice of words however.

"Then share," Uiharu commanded and quickly overwhelmed Saten.

* * *

August 15th, 8:27AM

Much like the other two Kuroko was also prettied up. Unlike the other two she didn't do so out of choice or from nervousness, but rather because Oneeni and Vyers had insisted on making her look more presentable for her event.

Much like the other two Kuroko was nervous. Unlike the other two it was not because of the event, but rather because it meant that they were leaving the district without any protection. sure there was Oneeni and Marshall had agreed to Konori's request which she had made yesterday for a greater Anti-Skill presence in the area today. But still she couldn't help but be nervous, a state not helped by the text she had just gotten from a certain broker of information.

"While the cat's away the mice will play, 76.4 meters at 37 degrees from north -Riko."

The teleporter gritted her teeth and teleported to the designated spot if just to check it out. She arrived just in time to stop a mugging.

"Damnit, I thought you were gone today." the mugger said.

"I am always here to protect the citizens of Academy City. Especially when I haven't even left the district yet you idiot." Kuroko said in her normal haughty voice. Though this just served to prove what she was worried about.

Then she got another text, "As great a hunter as ever right neko-chan? -Riko"

"I'm not in the mood to play your games today. I have work to do." she texted back as she dealt with the victim and sent them on their way (after, oddly enough, being asked to sign an autograph).

"It might be a game to me but it isn't to you. There are people who are in trouble today more than ever and, being a teleporter, you're the only one that can get there in time to help. Or are you willing to let them go."

Kuroko didn't reply to that message but she knew the answer. It was true, of course it was true. She really didn't want to go to this event but she had been asked by Marshall and even Aleister himself so she could hardly disappoint. But she couldn't ignore it all either. If she didn't know about the crimes going on she could handle it, but she couldn't bear the thought of doing nothing while she had the chance to help things.

So she had to play Riko's game, feeling even more like a puppet or a pawn than she usually did, something that was not an easy feat to accomplish, all things considered.

Interpreting her lack of an answer as an answer in and of itself, Riko sent her another text message about another crime, and again after that, and again and again. She managed to direct Oneeni towards a few but she was rarely close enough.

* * *

The texts stopped 5 minutes before her scheduled deadline to meet with Konori and Uiharu, possibly out of mercy but considering it was Riko...

She straightened herself up a bit so she didn't look quite so ragged and then went to the meeting place where she saw Konori tapping her foot impatiently, looking nervous and distracted in equal measures.

What Aomi had said earlier raced through the older girl's mind despite it already being overburdened already by nervousness. Despite being a joke it had cast a slight seed of doubt in Konori's mind. She had always told herself that she wasn't interested in guys because she was too busy with work... but maybe it was true that she just didn't lean that way. It didn't help that she was surrounded by lesbian co-workers and had a roommate who groped her frequently and crawled into Konori's bed whenever she had a fight with her boyfriend.

Then one of the "lesbian co-workers" in question appeared right in front of her. She glanced at her watch, "as ever you are barely on time."

"A luxury you have as a teleporter," the girl dismissed as usual. She seemed quite calm, if a little unhappy, despite how nerve-racking this day was. Then again she always seemed calm, if passionate, when it came to matters like this having to do with work, a stark contrast to how she acted when something was wrong in her personal life when she tended to wig out with a surprising amount of emotion, as Konori herself had frequently been witness to.

Then she looked more thoroughly at her Kohai and frowned, "those Band-Aids are new," she noted, pointed at the objects in question that had not been there yesterday, "something happen?"

"Oh these?" she said putting her hand up to her cheek and partway peeling off the Band-Aid that was stuck onto it showing perfectly intact flesh, "they're just for show. I think it's stupid but a certain somebody insisted that it fit my image." she said, sounding a little embarrassed.

Konori blinked and looked again at the Band-Aids, this time without the concern and suspicion, "Whoever it was I have to admit they were right," she decided.

Kuroko sighed, "Thanks, I think. You look nice today as well."

"Thanks," Konori said and looked at her watch, "Uiharu's late."

"It doesn't start for another three hours, don't worry. Not that I'd mind missing it altogether," she muttered the last part.

Konori looked at the teleporter with scrutiny, "Why is that? Is something wrong."

"You know my reputation among Judgment and Anti-Skill. I am hardly well liked. Most of my "fellow" agents know me as a demon and, if they aren't too afraid to speak of me, they insult me frequently. I can ignore it if I have to but I'd prefer not to spend too much time there."

With those words both Konori and Kuroko finally came to the realization that her previous resistance to going to this event wasn't actually because she was worried about what would happen if she was gone. Kuroko had been using that as an excuse, one that became more and more justified as evidence proved her worries valid. The real reason was the one she had just spoken.

Everything about Kuroko tended to push people away when they came to know her, the more they knew about her the more they were pushed away, it was one of the reasons she was so hesitant to tell anyone about herself. But even on the surface she was an almost intolerable person. She was arrogant, overzealous, judgmental, and pretty socially inept. That mixed with her... preferences as well as the simple position of being a Tokiwadai student all coagulated in quite an unlikable personality

She had gotten quite used to the scorn and hateful remarks that she heard on a near daily basis from people that knew of her, but that didn't mean it didn't affect her.

Now she felt kind of stupid knowing that this was her only reason for resisting going. She had thought that her reason was so selfless and noble but it was just fear. She was just a pathetic coward after all.

Konori hugged her kohai, trying to comfort her. "You've done a really good job recently. I know i haven't really acknowledged that yet, but it's how I feel. You're the reason our branch was chosen, you and Uiharu both doing such a fantastic job. So who cares what a few agents think, the people who matter think you're great."

"I need comforting far too often nowadays. But thank you for your sentiments," Kuroko said, hugging her back, "It's good to know that you're always there for me."

"Now cheer up ok?"

"Yes senpai," she said, putting on a half-real smile.

* * *

Half a minute later Uiharu came running up to join them, Saten following behind. Both of them were very out of breath though Uiharu far more so. Though she had been training hard she was still not the fittest girl around.

"You're late," Konori tutted disapprovingly to the flower headed girl.

"S-S-So-So-Sor," she tried to get out, but the breath for the words escaped her more quickly than the words themselves could.

"We still have time before it begins," Kuroko said, "So just calm down and catch your breath."

However the universe seemed set on proving her wrong and a phone call came through on Konori's cell immediately after she finished her sentence. She picked it up and said, "hello?"

"Hello, it's Marshall. I know this is last minute but could you be here a little early to help set things up? Say... fifteen minutes? Thanks," he said assuming she would agree before she could protest and then hung up on her.

"Damnit... apparently we don't have time," she said looking at her watch, "we need to be there in fifteen minutes and the train leaves in 3. We need to go now if we want to catch it."

Uiharu's eyes widened, "bu- but I ca-can't ru- run anymore."

Before anyone else could react Saten scooped Uiharu onto her back, giving her a piggyback ride. "It's my fault we were late," she said, though out of breath herself, "I'll take responsibility, let's go." the long haired level zero said, sounding quite cool as she took off towards..."

"Wrong direction," Kuroko shouted at her enthusiastic friend.

"... I knew that," she replied, turning around.

Despite the rush that had just been created they all shared a laugh as they headed off towards the station at high speed. Kuroko would have offered to teleport them but she didn't want to take away such a pleasant moment for the pair.

As they were running a text message came through to Kuroko. She clenched her fist but couldn't stop herself from reading it. As she expected it was from him. She might have just deleted it but, against her better judgment she read it and was quite surprised by its contents.

At the top it said, "a little gift" then on the next line it had several web addresses which, according to the text, were fan sites devoted to "the scourge". It then had a couple of statistics, like crimes she had stopped and people she had saved. At the very bottom it said, "having enemies is a sign that you have done something for the world. -Riko."

Though she did not have time to do more than skim the text it still brought a small smile to her face. Riko confused her at times, he seemed to care about her sometimes but other times it seemed like he wanted nothing more than to make her miserable, or at least angry.

* * *

August 15th, 9:15AM

Unfortunately they arrived slightly too late. The doors had closed and the train was beginning to move. Fortunately they had a teleporter with them who didn't care much about doors.

Now completely exhausted, Saten let Uiharu off her back and collapsed onto one of the seats. Looking around Kuroko saw that they were the only four people in the car so she touched Konori and teleported them to the next car to give the two of them some privacy. Uiharu noted this which made her even more embarrassed than she was already. Still she needed to say something.

"A-Arigomensuki[1]"

Saten looked at her for a second and then laughed as best she could.

"It was my fault we were late, not yours and you carried me here even though you were as tired as I was and you're coming to help even though you're not in Judgment and you don't have to... and... and... I promise I'll pay you back for this." Uiharu finally decided.

For a second those words really worried the long haired girl but then she saw that Uiharu's expression was one of desperation and concern than the hungry, slightly scary, look that she had on when she was about to go into one of her kissing sprees so Saten guessed that that wasn't what she meant by repayment. She patted the seat next to her and said, "then can i have a lap pillow while I rest?"

Uiharu blushed but sat down at the indicated spot and soon Saten's head rested on top of her lap. They sat there for a minute in silence before Saten sighed, "not as comfortable as the bare thighs that a skirt provides... not that the school skirt provides much of that. Tokiwadai's uniform is much better in regards to skirts." she looked up at the blushing girl who was averting her eyes in an attempt to stave off the inherent embarrassment at the situation. "We should go shopping for some shorter skirts for you, maybe even a miniskirt. Show off your cute legs to everyone." Saten teased.

"I don't want to show my legs to everyone!" Uiharu protested, "S-Saten-san's the only one who I want to show off to..." she said, her voice barely a whisper by the end.

Still that whisper had powerful effects on the other girl who blushed deeply. "Arigomensuki," she whispered in reply.

* * *

Meanwhile in the other car Konori was slightly confused as to why Kuroko had chosen to vacate the car with the other two in so quickly and she decided to ask Kuroko about it.

"Huh, I guess I did," was the teleporter's vague reply which moved quickly into a very odd non sequitur, "Want to see a magic trick."

"Huh?" the older girl looked at her kohai with a raised eyebrow which she utterly ignored as she began her show.

"Nothing in my hands or up my sleeves," she began, showing the areas in question so that her one woman audience could verify this fact. Then she put her hands together, "and presto," she said pulling a flower out of thin air. It was one of the flowers from the top of the windowless building (with the thorns stripped off obviously) that she had stored earlier in an attempt to see what happened to organic matter when it was stored.

Konori sighed deeply then smiled widely, "I really don't get you at times... but you seem happier than you were before. And I suppose that's the important thing."

"Yeah I am happier, due in no small part to yourself. Thank you very much Konori," Kuroko said sincerely, causing Konori to blush and a small silence to fall over the pair until Kuroko spoke again, "so how did you like my magic trick?"

"Considering you're a teleporter it's not that amazing."

"Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from science so of course it seems like I'm just using my powers," she defended.

"Uh-huh... right..." Konori replied skeptically and looked out the window. "We'll be there soon," she remarked.

* * *

August 15th, 9:26AM

And indeed they arrived within a couple of minutes. They made their way to the Judgment training ground where the public appeal event would be taking place. At the entrance they were greeted by an Anti-Skill agent who explained the basics of the event then sent them to their respective places to help with the setup.

Uiharu would be among those demonstrating the support and cyber-crime aspects in the main building, Konori would be giving a lecture on the administrative and infrastructural aspects of Judgment. Kuroko would be among those demonstrating the training and would also be one of the three people (with the same two people who were demonstrating the training alongside her) who manned the booth where people could come and ask questions about Judgment.

After learning their responsibilities the three split up in order to help with the set-up. Kuroko went to the training ground and began helping, only to be interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hey there pseudo-boss," Marshall said, grinning at Kuroko, "today's the day. You excited?"

"Not really." she responded

Marshall sighed, "Man... You're a bigger killjoy than Onii-chan."

Kuroko cocked her brow at the police chief. It was an unusual sentiment coming from the man. "You have an older brother?"

"Well I had six older brothers and six older sisters, but they're all dead now. Most of them have been dead for a while now."

"I-I'm sorry..." the teleporter said, slightly lost for words. She had thought he had come over purely to taunt her. This was unexpected to say the least.

"Don't be, they mostly fell to their own foolishness. They pissed off the wrong people and gambled with their lives in the most idiotic of circumstances." he sighed, the memories serving no purpose but to annoy him, so he decided to just proceed with his initial plans, "By the way, you know how I told you I sent more agents to reinforce your district while you were away?"

"Yeah..."

"I lied," he mentioned casually as he turned and left with a wave, "Have fun!"

He actually had sent over additional troops but he could hardly miss the opportunity to watch the little girl get so annoyed that steam practically came out of her ears. She was always so robotic during her missions, and when he had visited her at Judgment Branch 177 Headquarters to deliver news about this event she had been too happy for him to taunt her effectively, but now she was already worried about things so it was the perfect time to throw a couple more straws onto the camel's back.

Kuroko gritted her teeth as she summoned a pill bottle to her hand. The pills were powerful, long lasting pain killers, even better than Ether-plant but at the cost of being quite addictive with a slew of unpleasant side effects.

But it wasn't like she had a choice at this point, a fact reinforced by the buzzing of her phone that alerted her to an incoming text. She sighed and popped a couple of the pills.

* * *

August 15th, 11:17

Though it was still three quarters of an hour until the event started quite a few people had already arrived. Kuroko was acutely aware of this fact because several of them had already approached her, including another one who had just come up to her.

''Umm... Hi... uh, you might not recognize me but..." she began.

Fortunately for the girl, but unfortunately for Kuroko, the entire two days she had spent as the Scourge were etched deep into her mind and she could not forget a single detail of it no matter how much she wanted to. This girl had been the victim of the second crime that Kuroko had stopped. The teleporter recalled and listed all the details that she could remember, like the date and location of the crime, then said, in a polite voice that masked her inward annoyance, "how have you been since then?"

The girl's eyes lit up in response, happy to know she had not been forgotten. "I wanted to thank you for that so..." she got a bag filled with cookies out from behind her back and gave it to the other girl, "here you go." she said then scurried away after Kuroko had accepted the cookies and thanked her

Kuroko stored them with the rest and smiled. It seemed that she really did have some fans. It made her happy that her work was getting recognized, even though she tried to be humble and force herself to think that she was just doing her job.

Then her phone vibrated again, the source of her previous annoyance. She sighed as she read the text. As usual it listed a location, it also had something else that confused Kuroko, "Do you have anything to do with that Tuxedo Mask wannabe who's going around?"

"What?" she responded simply as she teleported to the location.

* * *

Riko frowned as the reply text came through. He had been hoping she would have some idea but she seemed as clueless as he was.

It was an oddity, a girl in a tuxedo, fedora, and sunglasses, looking much like that silly Tuxedo mask character from that one show, was going around, skating on power lines, beating criminals unconscious with a cane that looked like a shepherd's crook and bolts of electricity. She had on a Judgment wristband but didn't seem too concerned about arresting people as much as just stopping the crimes. He had never seen her before but the Judgment registration number was valid.

And that's where it got conspiracy-y. The number had been registered as a temporary deputization made by the Chief of internal Security.

But Academy City didn't have a Chief of Internal Security. Most of the city's administration was handled by the board of directors, Commander in Chief, or the Grand Chief, a shadowy figure who had basically ultimate power over the city who, with a 99.8% probability, lived in the windowless building in the northern part of district 7.

This Chief of Internal Security was new, but the position did not seem to be made up. The position, though only recently created, did exist on the government rosters but the name of the person who filled it was redacted out.

Riko sighed. This did make things harder. The tuxedo mask girl wasn't only piquing his curiosity with nothing but dead end leads, but she was also stopping many of the crimes before he could direct Kuroko towards them. Then there was Skillout who were doing something similar, though to an outsider it might seem that they were going about their normal business. Of course that was at least somewhat expected, seeing as they seemed to have allied themselves with Kuroko in return for her not constantly hounding them and arresting their number.

Now he had fewer things to busy Kuroko with and she might actually have a peaceful time at her Judgment event.

Probably not though. In addition to the Judgment event there was also Anti-Skill event similar to the Judgment one and a mandatory Law Enforcement training session for District 7 that sapped most of the police resources out of the district. This was widespread knowledge so, as he had stated in his first text, the filthy rats of the district were crawling all over the place, looking at it as the perfect opportunity.

Of course none of them saw to doubt such a tantalizing chance or question why all the events and training had been set up on the same day. No one saw it as deliberate enticement, why would they. All they knew was that most of the police were gone for a day.

However they were quite wrong about that. In one part of the district the Special Forces known as Hound Dog patrolled the streets, taking over for the absent Anti-Skill.

"But then who are these guys?" Riko asked aloud, zooming in on the site of a crime where a single armored Anti-Skill agent wielding a shock staff, a little used weapon in Anti-Skill's arsenal, and using it to easily dispatch several opponents. The armor was surprisingly high grade and his (or her, as the face was not visible and the armor hid any other signs of gender) skill with such an awkward and unusual weapon was surprising, as if they had been using it all their life. The weird thing was that all the agents were similarly dressed and equipped; something that must have been extremely expensive yet left no paper trail on the Anti-Skill databank.

Then he zoomed onto one of the arrest scenes that Kuroko had left behind. An armored Anti-Skill van drove up to it and two agents stepped out and, after handcuffing them as Kuroko had forgotten to do in her rush, loaded them into the now full back of the van.

Then the van drove, not to the police station, but to a set of several large buildings that Riko had seen before. Oddly enough Kuroko had asked him about these buildings before. They were rehabilitation centers funded and built by Vulcanus Industries, now fully completed and staffed, though that staff was comprised of only two people. A young Level One ESPer named Avon and...

Riko smiled, "that's certainly interesting..."

* * *

August 15th, 12:38PM

After the ten minute introduction Kuroko and a couple of other agents had demonstrated the training for a half an hour. Now came the big finale, as they lined up at the start of Judgment's obstacle course. Since 12:00 when the event began she had not yet received another text, something she was quite grateful for.

As she had expected there was a considerably large audience compared to last year's event. And given their shouts, both encouraging and derogatory, a good portion were there for her.

The cheers made her happy but that happiness was tainted by all the insults that were shouted at her as well and the rotten fruit she was forced to dodge at one point. Then there were her "fellow" agents.

"Hey Oni. Lesbo," one called out, "You're going down."

"Say that when you win and maybe it will be more than pointless breath uttered by a brute." she replied haughtily, defending her pride to the end.

Over the shouts of, "GO SCOURGE, YOU CAN WIN," and "KICK THAT SCOURGE FREAK'S ASS!" the shot of the starting pistol rang through the air and the three took off.

Kuroko got an early lead, finishing the first part of the course, a 100M sprint. Then, like before when she had gone through this for real, she tore through the obstacle course, clearing each one with almost inhuman ease. She was half way done when the others were still only a fourth of the way.

Unfortunately that was when her glasses, which she had had on all the while to both keep the sun out of her eyes and to check the crowd for any weapons they might have to use against her, the fact that they were in possibly the safest place in the city in regards to nearby law enforcement doing little to ease her paranoia, flashed with a message. Like the others it had a location but this one included the word "URGENT" in front as well as a short summary of the crime. Apparently a bus of schoolchildren had been caught in the crossfire of some gang violence.

* * *

The choice was obvious and, despite being in the middle of the race, she teleported to the location quickly. After having gone back and forth so many times between the districts the route was engraved in her brain and so she made it there quickly.

She saw the bus lying there on the road. It had taken quite a few hits and was heavily damaged. A quick scan revealed that the children and their teacher were still on the bus so she teleported inside immediately. Not bothering to say anything to the terrified children or their equally scared teacher as she touched them and teleported them a safe distance away two or three at a time until all 15 were safe. Luckily the bus didn't explode until after that and Kuroko was the only one hit by what little shrapnel there was, given the safety measures of Academy City school buses.

The shrapnel embedded itself in her arm but she didn't really feel it, the pain killers she had taken earlier reducing the pain to near zero, enough that it didn't interfere with her teleportation at least.

Now she could start taking care of the others, the gangsters who, in their blind idiocy and fury, had endangered a group of children.

She teleported in front of a couple of them and took them down, going right for their weak points and hitting below the belt, not caring if that was honorable or not. She took out a couple more before the rest of them stopped attacking each other for long enough to refocus their attention on her and quickly turned the tide of battle to begin overwhelming the girl.

But just as Kuroko, seeing the trouble she was now in, thought of retreating reinforcements arrived. Oneeni jumped off the power lines she was skating along, taking out one by landing on him and two with the lightning she shot at them as she skidded to a halt. Another couple were dispatched as the electro-master, with the element of surprise still on her side, threw two throwing knives at two different people. They both hit, hilt first, right in the middle of the thugs' foreheads, knocking them out.

There were only a few left so Kuroko nodded at Oneeni and teleported back to the fair, leaving the clone to finish up.

* * *

Within several seconds Kuroko was back on the obstacle course, right where she had left. The other agents were now far ahead of her and she was mentally and physically exhausted from the battle. But she wasn't the type to give up. She ran as fast as she could, speeding through the course even faster than before, passing the other two agents just before reaching the finish line, a fact which roused the crowd to no end, and apparently roused the anger of the other competitors as well.

"What the hell!" one yelled, "What was that, leaving in the middle of the race to have some tea or something just to show us up at the end. I bet you cheated you arrogant little showoff-y freak! Piece of sh-"

"Yeah..." Kuroko interrupted, turning around to face him as she pulled a particularly large fragment of metal from the bus's frame out of her arm then brushing out the smaller pieces, "I was having tea..."

"You-" he began, this time interrupted by Marshall, who stepped between the two and announced that they would now begin the question and answer portion for those that were interested in learning a bit more about Judgment. Then he told Kuroko and the other two to sit down.

Kuroko teleported over to one of the tables that had been set up and sat down hard, grinding her teeth harder as the frustrations piled up. Still she put on a fake smile as a massive line formed in front of her.

* * *

August 15th, 1:13PM

"Now what shall I have you do next oh terrible scourge?" Riko pondered as he scanned throughout the district for fun things to make the girl do. Then his eyes fell upon something very interesting. Kuroko's little friend and romantic obsession, Misaka, was walking down the street with someone that looked exactly like her walking next to her.

'The clone eh?' Riko noted. He had first heard the rumors of a massive cloning project a while ago but he had had no proof until recently, when he had seen one with his own eyes, or at least via a camera... It would be quite interesting if Kuroko were to meet up with this girl wouldn't it? There was even a crime going on nearby, an opportunity knocking if he had ever heard one.

Riko grinned as he flipped open his phone, ready to text the girl. Then he felt something hard pressed to the back of his head.

"I don't disapprove of what you are doing. It is quite entertaining, making her so frantically run around while at the same time trying so hard to do her duty at that fair. It is so very fun to watch, and I don't mind you continuing to do so. But that particular action is... not preferable so I'm afraid I can't let you do it. If you try... Well, you of all people know the value of the brain," there was a cocking of a gun, "But things like that are only of value if they are in one piece."

Riko glanced at his computer screen, looking at the reflection off the computer screen to see exactly who was currently threatening him, "Chief Marshall of Anti-Skill. Isn't this a surprise," he said, calmly.

"Riko, the great information broker, is surprised? Looks like you're getting rusty with age."

"I just wouldn't have thought that someone like me was worth the attention of such a high ranking official."

"Humility? From you? You must really be nervous."

"Most people are when a gun is held to their head..."

"I've noticed that..." Marshall said removing the gun, "direct her somewhere else if you wish, but keep her clear of those two. You have only lived so long because you help the plan more than hurt it, and you'll only continue to live while this continues to be true."

Riko turned around to face his guest only to be met with nothing but the skyline. He sighed, "Guess this is one bit of fun I can't have..." He said and looked for a crime that was happening in another area and texting the teleporter about that, "what a scary person that Marshall is."

* * *

August 15th, 6:07PM

The texts had petered out a few hours ago. A fact Kuroko was grateful for. But they had persisted through the question and answer portions and she excused herself several times.

That hardly made anyone happy, which might explain why she was being yelled at right now.

"I asked your branch to help with this because I thought that you were reliable. But here you go vanishing every five minutes for who knows what reason," Marshall, seeming quite angry, scolded her, "I should have known this was a mistake. I should have listened to the people at the station. They said you were too troublesome for this but nooooo, I had to go and trust you."

A couple of nearby Judgments agents giggled at this, happy to see the demon getting her much deserved comeuppance. Marshall glared at them, sending them scurrying.

But the powerful, withering gaze was not enough to scare off Konori, who stood in front of Kuroko protectively. "I apologize for her behavior but I'm sure she has a good reason for it."

Marshall leveled his glare directly at her, but though it frightened her she did not give an inch of ground. Then the police chief looked from side to side and, after verifying that there were no more people, he calmed down. In an instant his scowl became a smile and the fire in his eyes was extinguished. "I know," he said, "but other people don't know that and if I let it go then people who didn't know the whole story might think I was treating her special. Here, have a medal" he fished around in his bag and took out a couple of shiny medals, handing two to Konori and one to Kuroko, "keep up the good work, it was great having you."

Konori turned to face Kuroko. Normally she would begin chewing her out herself, but right now the younger girl looked more upset than Konori had ever seen her before. So instead she asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

The younger girl was glad that Uiharu and Saten weren't here to see her looking so disturbed and unprofessional. She was keeping the tears in, but just barely, as she said, "No... I- I just want to leave... to get away from here"

"Okay," she said, hugging Kuroko tightly before hoisting her onto her back, "Let's go back and get some ice cream okay?"

* * *

Between The Lines: 4

"Your Hound Dogs gonna be crying cause they ain't never caught a rabbit after all," the associate said jokingly to Aleister, "The soldiers from the Dragon[2] project easily outperformed them in every aspect. They have masterful training with no time necessary. They are equipped with whatever weapons and armor are laid before them without consuming any resources. They are perfect. Speíroun tous spórous, ta dóntia tou drákou, o karpós ti̱s Thí̱vas, níki̱ apokomísei[3]."

"You forgot to mention their fragility. Any attack that would draw blood on a regular person causes them and their equipment to fade into dust and they have a relatively slow rate of production and lifespan. But I suppose you are correct. After the invasion and Kihara Amata's death they will become Academy City's primary special forces division."

Before either of them could speak again the phone began to ring.

"Hello Avon," Aleister said politely in English.

"Hello Mr. Crowley," she replied in kind. On the other end of the line she curtsied out of habit despite being on the phone, "I know that today was the scheduled day but... well... she's having kind of a hard time, her fall really affected her. According to the doctor you sent over she's suffering from several neurological imbalances and a few psychological issues. He's been helping her but it might still be awhile before she's healthy."

The girl sighed, "It's my fault. I was angry and over cautious and I didn't leave a backdoor like I usually do."

"Do your best," Aleister said simply.

"Yes sir," she said and he hung up. She grasped the Star of David that hung from her neck and said, "God's Judgment is swift and merciless, but I pray that it is over quickly and she is forgiven in your eyes. She has done much up until now but if you saw it to forgive me then she is certainly not beyond redemption."

She said another prayer to purge herself of her own sins, as she felt she needed to do often. Then went back into the darkened room and sat down on the bed where a person lay under the covers. "I'm back," she said, going back to Japanese.

The person under the covers pulled the blanket around herself tighter.

"Come on now," Avon said comfortingly, "I thought that a level five would be better than this... Someone who once called themselves The Queen shouldn't be sulking like this."

* * *

[1]: if you didn't guess this is a combination of "thank you", "sorry", and "I love you". She was really flustered after all so the "thank you" and "sorry" blended together and the "I love you" just slipped out.

[2]: I made a typo last time I wrote this. This is a far different thing from DRAGON.

[3]: "Sow the seeds, the dragon's teeth, the fruit of Thebes, victory is reaped." in greek.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this long chapter (though there are longer ones. Another fic, "Choices", has 28,000 words in two chapters blowing my 6000 word average out of the water). Some good exposition, a lot of interaction including quite a bit of SatenXUiharu and interaction between Konori and Kuroko, and even a bit of action.

TVTropes has an article titled, "Dude, Where's My Respect?" about how heroes are so rarely recognized for their service. Touma definitely suffers from this as do the heroes of Railgun. I can understand that their actions are at least partially being covered up and I understand why the Trope exists, but I still like to have a little recognition for the heroes, hence Kuroko's fan club.

* * *

Coming Soon: The Return of The Queen


	12. Toaru Haiboku no Aji

とある敗北の味

Toaru Haiboku no Aji

A Certain Taste of Defeat

* * *

August 15th, 10:32PM

Inside the Windowless Building:

"I don't understand why that girl is in charge of such a major facet of law enforcement as rehabilitation, especially the rehabilitation of a level 5. She is a level 1, why leave something so important up to someone so weak?" the associate asked as Aleister finished his call with Avon[1].

"While her ESPer power is weak that does not mean that it is not the right one for the job. But her power is not the reason. The reason is because I can trust her to do it. As several psychological experiments over the years have revealed, the job of prison warden is one that is ripe for all manner of corruption. However her... circumstances lower the chance of that happening to a negligible percentage," Aleister explained.

The associate nodded though he knew that Aleister was withholding information, "so once #5 is rehabilitated and under the control of Avon and, by extension, you, what do you plan on doing with her."

"She is... a safety net, in case things go wrong. Her ability of mind control that can affect even numbers 1 and 2, and the more powerful magicians is a fantastic backup plan if anything goes wrong."

"it will be awhile before she can be deployed at this rate though."

"She is not necessary at the moment. For now the only active conflicts are with #3 and the child in their own personal battles. the priests of Set will be arriving tomorrow as well as those of Ma'at several hours later. With the abilities the priests of Set have they will be able to easily infiltrate the city but Ma'at would not have such an easy time so I'll need you to arrange transport."

"Yeah yeah, rely on me to do all the footwork. Just like my father... making his kids do all his work for him... It's not like these guys are a threat. Your seals are powerful, They wouldn't be able to do anything unless they had... wait... are you saying..."

Aleister nodded, "From Gibraltar to Phoenicia to Alexandria. Now perhaps you see the importance of this, as well as the reason I am sending the child rather than anyone else. Not only can I trust her to keep the knowledge a secret as it must be kept, but, while she has powers, that is not the only source of her combat capabilities so she will be able to fight them whether they use it or not."

"Quite a gamble. This may be entertaining..."

* * *

August 15th, 10:32PM

Flouer de Temps Apartment complex

Despite Konori-senpai's valiant and successful attempts to cheer Kuroko up, by the time she went to her nightly lessons she was filled with gloom again.

Her Onee-sama had been out. All day she had been reassuring herself that, once she got home, the one she loved would be there waiting for her. When she wasn't it ended up hurting more than the rest of the day had. As soon as she arrived at her lesson she relinquished her body to Kuro in an attempt to dull the pain for now.

Unlike her more resilient alter-ego, Shiro often needed to run and hide from her problems within her world of memories where the pain of the present and fear of the future wasn't as daunting to the fragile teleporter.

From within Kuro's hard set features no pain or fear or feeling escaped. The world was dulled and shadowy to Kuro. Emotions were nothing but quickly passing ghosts that left traces but were impossible to grasp. Her movements were as quick as the other girl's and her control over the body was strong, but every sensation was dulled. Just like with emotions she was disconnected from any pain, seeing it as nothing but a passing unpleasantness. Trauma and heartache didn't affect her at all, for she had nothing she held dear. Kuro was an empty void where feelings went to die.

Which is why this particular exercise was so stupid.

"_I have told you before that I do not believe in souls,"_ she said,_ "so why exactly am I searching for something that I don't understand in something that doesn't exist?"_

Lammington sighed, "All magicians have special names that are carved onto their soul when they become magicians. These names are composed of three sections, the name itself, a number, and the title. For example: mine is Conditivus888, "He who holds still the world". Aleister's is Deus100, "I shine Heaven's light upon the darkness." Kind of tedious I know but he was a different person when he chose it."

"Normally the name is chosen by the magician shortly before he becomes a magician. But because you became a magician unconsciously at an unknown time your name is unknown so you are searching your soul to see if you can identify it."

"_And what purpose does it serve?"_

"It will serve as a way to identify yourself to those on the magic side."

Kuro sighed, _"Very well. If a magician can choose I might as well make it match who I am... Shinkuu0[2]."_

"It's traditionally in Latin, not Japanese."

"_Fine... Nihilis0[2]."_

"Also it's usually three numbers, and 000 is already taken. But you can't really choose anyway. You're already a magician, you already have one. But if finding it really is hard for you then wait here and I will get something to help. I will be a short while so feel free to do something else in the meantime."

Kuro nodded as Lammington left the room. "Rough day?" Vyers asked.

"_A busy one."_

"Yeah, for you and Oneeni both it seems. She came back not too long ago looking quite upset. Locked herself in the bathroom immediately. Well... she doesn't actually seem to understand how to lock doors so she didn't quite lock herself in but that phrase fits best in the circumstances..."

"_I get it," _she interrupted standing up_, "Shiro would be mad at me if I didn't see what was disturbing her,"_ she explained and left to the bathroom.

* * *

She walked up to the door and knocked. She heard no answer but that didn't was to be expected. So she simply opened the door and entered. The air was still humid and the floor was still damp from a recently taken shower. Oneeni sat near the mirror at the opposite end of the room looking quite distraught as she examined her hair and body for any signs of damage.

Oneeni glanced to see who had come in and was surprised to see that it was... she glanced quickly at the eyes to confirm and saw that it was the piercing, muted gaze of Kuro that met her own. She had been to frustrated, annoyed, and distressed to really have been keeping track of time but judging by her presence it must be time for Kuro's lesson. She half-scolded herself for losing track of time and being late though she did have a perfectly justifiable reason. She stood up quickly to get ready.

However she got up too quickly and she slipped on the damp floor. As ever Kuro was quick to react, sliding along the floor to catch the clone before she split her head open on the hard tiled ground. She caught her successfully, breaking her fall.

It took a second to realize the position that they were now in. Kuro was currently holding a clone of Misaka Mikoto who had just gotten out of the shower and was still naked and dripping wet tight enough to her body to feel the heat through her clothes with their faces mere centimeters apart from each other. More than that though she knew that the person she held had no shame and would likely go along with any request that Kuro made.

Even dulled and numbed as it was, the arousal that this particular position caused was enough to shake the ever stoic Kuro to the core, causing her to temporarily lose control of herself. She closed the gap between her and Oneeni kissing her deeply as her tongue darted inside the other girl's mouth as her hands slid up and down savory the softness for several seconds.

Then, as suddenly as it had started she stopped as she shook off the invasive desires, emptying herself of feeling once more and regaining control. She was slightly disturbed by the loss of control and wondered if Shiro would be angry at her for her actions.

Luckily for Kuro, Shiro was too busy going over happy memories of the past to pay attention to the present. That was a relief, now the only person she had to apologize to was Oneeni who was probably disturbed by her sudden actions.

She looked up to the clone and opened her mouth to speak when she saw the same vacant stare as always greeting her. The kiss hadn't fazed her at all.

'_That's right...'_ the girl thought to herself, _'Something like a kiss has no meaning to her. I might as well have been shaking her hand for all she cares... for me too. A kiss is nothing but a method to change back into Shiro, there is no point to it if I don't even do that. I don't even know why I did it in the first place...'_

Since she had nothing to apologize for she simply stood up without a word.

Oneeni was slightly confused, though a bit relieved as well. When Kuro had kissed her she thought that perhaps the lesson was already over and Kuro was switching back with Shiro, but it seems that Kuro was staying in control.

Of course that brought up the question of what the kiss had been for. Before coming here kisses were just another item in the fairly long list of social activities that only partially understood. She had seen scientists doing it when they thought that no one was watching and she had even experimented doing it herself with a few of the other clones, but she still could not see the reason for it beyond the minor rush that kissing brought. Considering how intimate an activity it was treated as it must have some purpose beyond simply enjoyment right?

She had found an answer when she had come here. Kissing apparently could alter one's persona if someone had multiple personas to choose from. It was a confusing reason that wouldn't seem to apply too often, but it was a reason nonetheless.

So what was the reason of kissing without that transition? Why, when Kuro run her hands along her body, did it feel like something more than an examination? Why did the clone enjoy it? why was the younger girl's touch so much more pleasant than that of the researchers and scientists that she had known thus far.

"_Thank you for today. I am sorry for causing such an inconvenience and upsetting you as I did... Is what Shiro wanted to say to you."_

"You didn't upset me," Oneeni responded after typing it in to the device on her wrist, "where did you get that idea?"

"_I heard you were upset and I didn't see any other factor that could have caused it. If you say it wasn't me then what caused it?"_

"My hair was ruined, my face was a complete mess, I got dust and dirt on my suit and hat, and I broke a nail." Oneeni listed off, "it took me 2 hours to get presentable again. 2 hours of looking into a mirror I can't even break."

"_How enviable that your only worry is your appearance. Either way you look fine now so get dressed and come on out."_

* * *

Oneeni nodded, obeying the "order" immediately as Kuro went back to the living room. Lammington had returned with something that looked similar to a ouji board, though far smaller.

Kuro remembered seeing a ouija board once before:

May 17th[3], 1:07PM

Benny's Diner

"So what did you call us for?" Misaka asked, "does it have something to do with what's in that bag."

"How observant of you," Saten grinned as she got out a large rectangular box from the bag, "Ta-da!"

"A board game?" Kuroko was hardly impressed, "Not exactly very exciting."

"Nope, not a board game this is a..." Saten began.

"A ouija board?" Misaka finished, seeing the box.

"Oh I've seen those before, they're supposed to answer your questions right?" Uiharu said.

"Exactly! I borrowed it from someone in my class who said that it worked great, that all of the answers turned out true. Apparently it works even if you're not a precog."

"I think I've done it before... how does it work again?"

"Well," Saten began getting it out, "apparently it has something to do with AIM fields but I don't quite know. I know you're supposed to ask a question then rest your fingers on it and let it move by itself. The letters it moves to spell out the answer to your question."

"Ridiculous," Kuroko scoffed, "such an unscientific thing could never work. The reason it moves would only be because people moved it, and then they retroactively fit the answer to the question like people do with all prophecies. "

"But it does work. My classmate said so. She said that the next day there was a pop quiz in class just like the board had predicted and that all the answers to the homework she was assigned that she asked the ouija board turned out to be true," the level zero testified in defense of the board.

"As I said, it's ridiculous. You can count me ou-"

"Oh, she also asked it if there was anyone who was interested in her and the next day the very same person the ouija board named confessed to her," Saten added.

Within a microsecond the teleporter's fingers were on the planchette, "let us try it out immediately." she said. The others sweatdropped at the girl's excitement considering her skepticism moments before. Kuroko cleared her throat, "now then. Who is destined by the red string of fate to be my eternal lover and eventually wife who I will be with forever while doing this and that to her and-,"

Misaka sparked and blushed, "Stop looking in my direction while talking about such di-" she began yelling at the younger girl until she was hit in the face by the iron planchette she had accidentally magnetically attracted to her.

"See Onee-sama, it's fate that we're going to be together forever," Kuroko grinned as she pounced on the electro-master, "don't fight destiny!"

* * *

Back in the Present:

"_A ouija board? That's kind of cliché isn't it?"_ Kuro stated.

"It isn't a Ouija board." Lammington said, getting out a knife as he set the piece of ivory on the table, "it's a method of identifying a person's magician name for purposes of identification. Since there are various ways to disguise appearance with magic this is used when security is of utmost importance. It was designed by Aleister Crowley back in his magician days and he never revealed how it worked but it does work. What you need to do is provide a few drops of blood and a stream of mana. The blood will spell out the name."

"I see," Kuro said and walked over to the table. She held out her finger, letting Lammington cut it and watched as the blood dripped out. They both watched intently to see what it spelled.

T-E-N-E-R-E-1-1-1.

"Interesting. Remember that name and the number. The title is yours to choose but you have plenty of time to mull it over if you want. Now, to get onto more important matters, your training..."

* * *

August 16th, 2:21AM:

Inside the Windowless Building:

"Another successful mission, with no casualties. You continue to impress me."

You are too kind Aleister-sama," Kuroko said humbly, though as always she glowed at the praise.

"I would like you to see Heaven Canceller after this however. Though you heal physical damage quickly, the radiation you suffered during the duration of this mission is a different matter and needs to be tended to immediately. Speaking of that I'm guessing you stored the uranium from the reactor in your little spell correct?"

"Of course. Otherwise it would have polluted the water. That was the reason the sinking ship was such a disaster in the first place, along with the crew who were in danger."

"Good. In which case it can be recycled Drop it off in one of the power plants in the city after you are released from the hospital. And one more thing, be ready for tomorrow, I will contact you when I hear word of the arrival of the cult I mentioned the other day. I need you to head there immediately once I have. And do not forget what I told you earlier."

"Don't worry Aleister-sama, I have a plan to deal with that," she said and disappeared.

* * *

August 16th, 11:26AM

District 21:

A light breeze wafted through the warm summer air as the sound of restrained water raged out to the heavens.

Floating on the wind like a dandelion's seeds was a single grain of course sand. The gentle wind guided it to a massive pile of sand that rested next to the reservoir in case of overflow. The grain, its journey over now that it was alighted upon the pile, glowed and a voice resonated from it, the deep voice speaking in a tongue unfamiliar to the region.

"Called forth to the sand and the divine storm raging upon the horizon by our god in his might and knowledge. Deliver us to the foreign land where you will yet reign and let us, your servants, do your bidding."

Once the last syllable had been spoken the entire pile of sand glowed and shifted and from its depths sprung 20 people in strange white robes and one in a golden tan hoodie and pants that looked like a lion's pelt. On his back was a large pack.

"God damnit I hate that spell," the man said in greek as he shook out his body, "it gets sand everywhere. abso-fucking-lutely every-fucking-where."

"Just keep your eyes on our goal," one of the people in white robes said. Unlike the others his robe was silken and decorated with elaborate markings and trimmed in gold. The man's skin was a dark tan in contrast to his fairer skinned friend. he carried a staff with a base like the pincers of a beetle and a head like the curve of a gazelle's horn in which was embedded a large jewel. "Once we have succeeded in our mission and have taken over the world with the power of the incarnation of our god Set you may have reign over the kingdom of your ancestor. Minus Egypt of course."

"No no no, I get Alexandria. Alexander the Great's kingdom isn't complete without it."

"Yes, I know. You will get Alexandria as well, but first we must find the incarnation of our master Set," now he turned and spoke to his 19 brethren, "scatter and find the one known as Tome."

They bowed and left. "You're with me Alexander. Let us be off."

"Sure thing TV," He replied.

"My name is Seti the Fifth, not 'TV'" TV said in frustration.

"And my name is Alex. Alexander was my great great times a large number grandfather," Alex argued.

TV shook his head and headed off.

* * *

August 16th, 11:23AM:

District 7:

"Hey there Prometheus," Kuroko greeted as the bird appeared on her shoulder suddenly, "what's up."

"**Egyptian magicians."**

"Ah yeah, the people from the cult of Set or whatever. They should be arriving today... I had a question for you actually. Why do they worship the aeons? They aren't really a thing are they? And people who can use their power are few and far between."

"**That was not always so. It used to be that people could manifest the power of the aeons in small amounts using magic. Since there is a powerful ley line running through the Nile magic flourished there and the magicians divided themselves into groups based on the power they displayed. Since there wasn't elemental magic at the time that was the only thing that set them apart. The magicians soon became priests and magic soon became their god. Which is actually what makes the cult of Set an odd one."**

"**You see, the aeons were named after the cults not the other way around so that makes it kind of odd why they would choose Set when the form of the power is more similar to Apep. The answer to this is because, though the power and form is more similar to Apep when at full force it is quite different at lower levels. Since the power of Set is more powerful when more tightly controlled, rather than worship the power itself they worshipped the ability to control and contain it. Thus spawned the image of Set, the godkiller, who kept Apep from swallowing the sun each day."**

"Interesting," Kuroko said as she got out her cell phone, which was ringing, and answered it. "District 21, got it. I'll be there soon Aleister-sama."

"Oh, and it would be best if you went as a member of Judgment rather than the black knight."

"Understood." She said and he hung up. She put her phone away and teleported towards her destination. Unfortunately she did not have a precise location so she ended up just teleporting around. To make it more difficult Aleister had said that they might be hiding their presence with magic.

* * *

After half an hour of unfruitful searching she sat at the edge of a building and sighed. "My delusions need to be more convenient than this. It's like those damn ninjas all over again..." she sighed again as she summoned the band she had pilfered from the head ninja of the rival clan and thought back to the experience. The golden emblem glowed in the sunlight.

Then the light from the sun was momentarily dimmed out by a particularly large cloud. Yet the emblem still glowed as brightly as before. Kuroko cocked her brow and brought it closer to get a better look. When she did the light dimmed ever so slightly. She moved it away again and the glow intensified again. She stood up and began walking, following the glow. It wasn't' too long before it lead her to a construction yard where a pair of shadowy, as in literally shadowy with dark blurred edges, walked.

_It makes sense for ninjas to have illusions detectors._ Kuro rationalized. "Handy," Kuroko said as she teleported down onto in front of the two figures. "This is Judgment, please state your business."

"Judgment, those those Ma'at guys?" the bigger one said to the other in Greek, which Kuroko, unfortunately, did not understand.

"Did you not study up on this place? Judgment are the student cops."

"What the hell then. How can she see us. Your spell's faulty."

"It is not the strongest in my arsenal. Now be quiet and let me handle this," he said then switched to clumsy Japanese, "hello. We look person name Tome. You know where find?"

"I'm sure we can help you down at the station if you follow me," she said. Figuring she should take a chance to avoid conflict if possible. If she could convince them to follow her to the station she could just teleport them into a cell and let Marshall deal with it.

"What she say TV?" asked Alex as TV deactivated the hiding spell since apparently it didn't work anyway.

"She said that she'd bring us to the police station and help us." TV told him in Greek again.

"Hell no, the only reason I'd go near a police station is to burn it down or something. Let's just go."

"It's against the law to burn down buildings in this city," Kuroko said in English, understanding the greek word for fire and building from the similar words used in the English language. His aggressive tone hinted at his reason for pairing those two words together, "Since you are clearly intruders with violent intentions I'm afraid I'll have to take you in regardless of your co-operation. If you simply agree things will be easier for you."

"Yeah...no..." Alex said in English, glad that he could finally understand what this girl was saying. He rested his hand on a nearby backhoe, "you see i have a couple of little friends with me that says you won't take me in." He lifted up the backhoe with ease, "meet Nemean Lion's Pelt and Super Strength. Now meet backhoe." He said with a grin as he threw the massive machine as easily as one would throw a baseball, sending it crashing down where the girl was and raising a huge cloud of dust. "That'll show you to talk down to a child of Alexander the Great."

"Clumsy," came a haughty, arrogant voice from on top of the wreckage of the backhoe. As the dust cleared Kuroko came into view, sitting on top of the pile of twisted metal looking none the worse for wear, "your friends aren't the most impressive bunch are they." Then she disappeared from view. Suddenly the same self-absorbed voice echoed in Alex's ear, "and is this supposed to be a lion's pelt?" a hand rested on his arm and suddenly the entire right arm of his hoodie vanished, "it's nothing but a cheap looking sweatshirt that comes apart at the slightest provocation." Kuroko sighed in disappointment, slightly surprised that only the arm had vanished. She had been hoping to get the entire sweatshirt and remove the possibly dangerous item from the equation before the battle began. Unfortunately for her the original form of the pelt was a suit of armor split into several segments, and even when its manifested form was something like a hoodie where the entire thing was one piece, the "pelt" was still segmented by nature.

Kuroko ducked as Alex swung at her. Despite his alleged super-strength, his arm moved at the same speed that a normal humans did. So his strength was similar to Kuro's in that it only affected the power, not the speed. That gave Kuroko the advantage.

"You dare mock me?" Alex said as he continued swinging only for the girl to dodge each and every blow. Still he was a skilled warrior and he did not leave any openings with his attacks for her to exploit, "and you dare mock the pelt worn by the great Heracles himself."

"You seem to use the word great a little too easily. Onee-sama is great, you're just a common delinquent," she said and punched him in the face. Then before he could counter she teleported behind him, "Pride comes before the fall."

Suddenly a stick entered her peripheral vision and she barely had time to grab it before it hit her in the face. The white robed priest stood there. Now that he was this close Kuroko saw that every inch of his flesh was covered in bandages. The shapes underneath gave the impression that under those were bones but no muscle or flesh to speak of. "You fool, exposing your back like that." This time a blow connected with the distracted Kuroko. She felt the rough linen cloth slide against her cheek as the hard bones underneath left a nasty bruise.

Then Kuroko was grabbed and thrown by Alex. The speed at which she left his grip was impressive and it was all she could do to try and slow herself down with her hands and feet before a collision with an object. Unfortunately, though her feet were protected by her shoes her hands were vulnerable and the entire palms were effectively ripped off by the friction.

While not a major injury it was an extremely painful one. Figuring she wouldn't be able to teleport for the duration of the battle with it, Kuro took over. Shiro had done her part, successfully completing the secondary objective that only she could do.

Kuro retrieved a small device from one of her horns and pushed the button on it to signal for Oneeni to come here so she could switch back once she had defeated these guys. Then she retrieved the newly acquired sweatshirt arm, slightly surprised to see it returned to its normal form of golden armor.

"_Nemean lion's pelt eh?" _she put it on, _"you're right, I shouldn't mock it before I try it."_ She reached over and grabbed a crane that was nearby and found that she could lift it. She could still feel the weight and the strain on her muscles but despite every muscle in her arm crying out they did not break. Moreso, despite the sandy ground, she did not sink in any more than as if she was not carrying the weight.

Kuro almost smiled at this newfound durability and proceeded to flatten Alex with the crane, using the long arm as a lever to slam the heavy main body onto his form. She was surprised to see that the arm did not snap off or even bend despite the strain that the action should have caused on it.

Still it did the job and she quickly let go of the crane in order to run up and attack the other person up close, figuring that he was probably far less durable and would be easily killed by such a hit, unlike the other person who probably only had several shattered bones.

Kuro vaguely heard a muttered chanting coming from the priest as he held his hand up like he was making a fist of defiance. She guessed that he was casting a spell, all the more reason to knock him out post haste.

She reached him before he managed to complete the spell and punched his chest with restraint.

She was surprised when her hand was suddenly up to its shoulder through his body. She had felt no resistance to her punch, the only thing she could feel was the warm wetness of blood on her arm. She had heard no sound when it had passed through, no squelch of pulverized flesh or crunch of crushed bone, all she heard was the man's low chanting.

'_How can he still be chanting...'_ she thought as she looked up to see the man entirely unfazed despite having her arm through where his heart should be.

Then the chanting stopped and Kuro heard a sound akin to breaking glass as the man clenched his fist then opened it . Kuro's gaze was drawn to the sound but she could not see what had made it because the next second a cubic foot of sand blasted into her face at 20 miles an hour. Her mouth was closed but her eyes were open and the grains of sand embedded themselves up to several centimeters into the fragile orbs, destroying her corneas, lenses and much of the sclera.

"Foolish to think that that pitiful attack could hurt me," the priest said grinning as he stepped backwards as Kuro withdrew her arm with a scream as she clawed her eyes trying on instinct to stop the agony she was experiencing. Kuro's punch had torn a hole through the fabric revealing a pulsating orb of red where his heart should be. The blood pumped through orb to the rest of the body in lieu of a heart.

"It seems this girl is really underestimating us," Said Alex as the dust cloud cleared revealing him holding up the crane, none the worse for wear. He dropped it off to the side and kicked Kuroko hard, sending her flying back , hitting the crane hard and caving in the metal.

'_4 broken ribs, 3 broken vertebrae, a collapsed lung, and I've lost all feeling in my legs,' _Kuro mentally couldn't fight any more, she could barely breathe. All she could do was cast her shield spell and hope to weather their blows. On her lips she found an unfamiliar word, a word powerful enough to transition from thought to word without her consent, _"Help..." _she quietly called.

"A shield..." TV said condescendingly, "how quaint. But a pointless effort." The man switched to Egyptian as he chanted, "foul demon of the underworld, he who swallows the sun, I call upon your power." the priest held out his hand and a small snake burst from his palm right towards Kuroko.

The moment it touched the shield it vanished, the magic dispelled with a brief graze. Then the snake wrapped around her neck. It had no solid form and so she could not feel it, but she could feel all her power drain away and even her regeneration stopped in its tracks. She could also feel the skin on her neck very slowly dissolve where the snake touched it, as if a powerful acid had been dipped on it. It stopped a second later but the relief from that was short lived as another intense pain took its place. The sand on the ground formed itself into vibrating whips that tore at her skin. leaving several deep gashes before falling back to the ground.

"What was that you said?" Alex taunted as he grabbed the arm of the crane, "pride comes before the fall right? Well.. happy fall.' he slammed the crane, and the embedded Kuroko into the side of a building, sending a good portion collapsing on top of her.

* * *

Alex grinned as he saw it collapse and began walking towards it, planning on getting the pelt segment back from the puddle that would be the girls corpse. His plans were interrupted when 5 million volts each hit him and TV, flinging them backwards as a person in a tuxedo screeched along the ground, a thin sword in one hand and the sheathe in the other.

Though Alex's lineage protected him and TV's lack of vital organs protected him, they were hardly uninjured from the blast, with Alex's arms nastily burned and very numb. TV had expended a lot of power attacking Kuroko so he did not have the strength for a second such fight.

"Tactical retreat," they said simultaneous and began running.

Oneeni could catch up with them if she tried. Indeed that was her mission. She was ordered to aid in these people's capture. She had no orders to help Kuro or anything of the sort. Her orders were to chase after those two, and Oneeni always followed her orders, it was her entire purpose in life.

…Was...

She turned around, sheathing her sword and tossing it aside as she ran to the pile of rubble that Kuro was buried beneath. She began frantically pushing aside rocks.

Kuro was surprised that she was alive. Though not without a cost. Intense pain racked her entire body. Even dulled and muted as everything the pain was almost unbearable. She was still unable to see but she could feel the intense energy coming from the right side of her head that had activated right before her impact with the wall slowly fading away.

Then she heard something. The clack of two rocks colliding and the dull shift of the pile she was under as someone began digging her out by hand. she heard another sound, an odd hum that sounded almost like a choir singing in horribly disharmony, a cacophony of notes with no rhyme or reason,

Almost every part of Kuro's body felt numb with paralysis, but she was surprised to feel that her right arm, though not uninjured, could still move. She reached forward with it and used it to push the crane that was pinning her off. She could not see the sunshine that now bathed her face but she could hear the choir far more clearly. then it stopped and she felt a hand clasping her own. Despite the situation Kuro actually felt relieved as she realized who it was.

"You actually came to help Oneeni..." she said

The choir stopped and was replaced by the sound of frantic typing. "Are you alright?"

"I...hurt...?" Kuro responded, slightly confused. She felt odd, she felt... feeling. The feeling of Oneeni's hand in hers was clear, unmuffled by the haze that shrouded Kuro's every feeling allowing her to take in the full experience of Oneeni's soft hand in her own. But the lifted haze seemed to extend to the pain as well and the once dull echoes were now coming at her with full force.

Oneeni looked from side to side, not sure what to do. She didn't want to leave Kuro and she couldn't dig her out further. She needed a doctor.

The next second she was startled by a voice. "I came as quickly as I could," Heaven canceler said as he walked up and snapped his fingers, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere, "Aleister called me, said it was urgent." He glanced at the girl in the wreckage.

"He was not exaggerating," The doctor frowned. Still she was alive and his spell would assure that she stayed that way for now. Still this was basically a worst case scenario. The power of Set that the priest had used had halted her mana flow. When it had resumed the body that she had at that point became the new baseline meaning that all her injuries from up to that point would not be healed by her regeneration and could not be healed with any normal magic or science. added to that was the fact that the injuries she received afterwards basically comprised of every single part of her body save for her head and upper spine being completely crushed.

Were he anyone else she would be unrecoverably dead within half a minute. But he was Heaven Canceller.

"I can fix you in about five minutes," he said with a sigh as he put his hand on her head. He hated using this power but he could not let his patient die, "this will hurt."

Kuro heard the words as if they were a million miles away as she quietly slipped into unconsciousness. Just before she fell asleep she though she heard the choir once more but it was gone the next second with Kuro following close behind.

* * *

Between the Lines: 5

A solemn air hung in the windowless building between the associate and Aleister.

"I'm sorry," the associate said with an actual air of guilt in their voice.

"It is not your fault alone. I sent her out ill-prepared to deal with them and without reinforcements. in the future I will be sure she can handle herself before I let her go."

"Still... at least she's still alive. The protection enchantments you put in her ribbon kept her skull and spine from being destroyed."

"It seems that way."

A silence descended over the two for a couple of minutes before the associate spoke up again, "Would you like me to go hunt them down?"

"No... They are still her targets. If i allowed someone else to handle them then she would not grow."

"Understood."

* * *

[1]: Pronounced aw-vone. Very different from the cosmetics, though it is a reference to something. I wonder if any of my readers know what.

[2]: Empty and Nothing respectively.

[3]:Remember that, due to my other story all dates of arcs that occurred before the Sister arc are set back a couple months so this is before the beginning of my other story and around the time of the poltergeist/level Upper arc and before the other story.

* * *

Author's Note: The thing about stories is that the protagonist generally doesn't die until the end, if at all. It kind of ruins the story because you know that the person will get out of this alive, else there wouldn't be several more chapters in the book. The protagonist usually wins and when they lose they don't die.

The way around this is, when they lose, you make them lose hard. Sure, don't kill them, but beat them to a pulp. Make them be beaten up so hard that your audience forgets that the hero survives and actually wonders if they will.

Of course I may have gone a little overboard with this. It's not graphic enough to warrant changing the rating to M, but it is quite... powerful.

Be sure to post a review if you think I went too far or if you liked it the tension it created, as this will help me determine what I do in the future.


	13. Toaru Kokoro no Nisshoku

とある心の日食

Toaru Kokoro no Nisshoku

A Certain Eclipse of the Heart

* * *

August 16th, 1:17

Outside the best hospital in Academy City, on a nearby tree, perched a single jet black raven. It glanced at the hospital's large revolving door then towards a window in the top right part of the building. Then, without a movement or sound the creature vanished as suddenly as it appeared. Yet despite the large crowd that passed by on the streets no one could even perceive the bird's existence.

Nobody but Kuro who, even from her hospital room at the top right part of the building, felt the bird's presence and subsequent absence. Of course this was to be expected. After all the bird was nothing but her delusion, none of this was anything but a delusion. A tale of sound and fury where nothing but this ghostly numbness existed.

'_Then why is this so real?'_ the girl wondered as a single feeling penetrated the haze of numbness, the gentle touch of a calloused yet soft hand grasping her own. _'how can a mere delusion be so tangible?'_

When Heaven Canceller had been healing her her world had been nothing but pain so she did not know quite how the doctor had managed to piece her back together. She did know that right now her body was almost as good as new.

Almost anyway. Her eyes, half obliterated by sand, had not been as easy to heal as the rest of her. Despite being awake her world was still nothing but an endless sea of blackness with only the soft feeling of a familiar hand and the soft sounds of music to suggest that anything still existed.

"_What are you listening to today Oneeni?"_ she asked the other resident of the room who sat beside her bed. Kuro felt a hand gently brush her loose hair away from her ear. A second later an earbud was put in and she heard vaguely familiar music, _"Same band as before? Queen or whoever?"_

Kuro heard some typing, "Yeah. One day I want to be just like them. Have a band of my own with me as lead singer. It's a silly dream though."

"_... you know, when we first met and I saw those eyes of yours I thought we were the same. Beings of logic and reason without emotions or feelings to weigh us down. People to whom suffering is nothing but a numbness that passes quickly and leaves no scars. People with no dreams or ambitions or futures at all save those dictated by others,. But today you chose to help me instead of pursue the others. It was a stupid choice that went against your duty and reason. you could do nothing to help me even if you tried yet you chose to let the others get away to do something so pointless and nonsensical. You and I are nothing alike."_

Kuro let go of the clone's hand, _"It's a good thing," _she said, sliding her fingers along Oneeni's arm, shoulder and neck then raising it to the other girl's face, letting her palm rest upon Oneeni's cheek, _"Numbness is an unpleasant existence. A foolish dream is better than no dream at all..."_

"_But that does not mean that you should forget to be rational as well. There is still a job to be done and I need you to do it. Understand?"_

Kuro felt Oneeni hesitate for a second then nod_. "Good. Now Aleister told me that there were more invaders than those two. I need you to find and put a tracking device on each one. Do it from a distance and avoid being seen at all cost. Understood."_

Another nod. Kuro then proceeded to explain in full detail what needed to be done. _"Good luck then."_ she said and withdrew her hand. She heard a chair scrape across the floor then heard as footsteps left the room.

* * *

Silence reigned in the room now and Kuro began to meditate, soon finding herself in her inner world, chained by snow white chains along with the similarly colored specter that was Shiro on the axe embedded into the central dias. Shiro stood up, straining the jet black chains that bound her. She then moved over to Kuro's own ghostly manifestation and stood in front of her. They looked at each other for a second then Shiro wrapped Kuro in a hug. Neither of them could feel it but the gesture was what mattered.

"I didn't know you felt that way..." Shiro began.

"_I was lying," Kuro corrected, "I don't feel that way, I don't feel."_

"You were lying but that is not what the lie was was it? You do feel, and you do dream. I am not the only one who wakes up terrified at 2AM because of nightmares." Shiro walked over and sat back down on her side of the axe."You do not need to tell me about it now, you do not ever need to tell me, but do not deny your feelings. Or you'll be just like the pereskia you hate so much."

There was a long stretch of silence before Kuro finally spoke, _"All there is is a simple room, darkened and seemingly without occupants. Then a small voice speaks up. 'don't go.' it pleads, 'don't wake up. If you wake up I'll die.' and if you try to tell the voice that it's just a dream, that it isn't real, it gets quiet, so quiet you can barely hear and it whispers, 'I'm real to me.' When I first had that dream I thought that the voice was talking to me, but then I realized that the voice was me."_

"_You may hate your delusions but they are all I have. Your delusions are my reality and to see through those delusions is to rob me of the only thing I am capable of believing in. It is not a nightmare which makes you afraid to go to sleep, it is a nightmare that makes you afraid to wake up. Yet to sleep forever is to die and the death of the dreamer is the death of the dream. Logically speaking it is a selfish and poor trade, to sacrifice your happiness for mine when even at its most potent I cannot feel the joy you experience._

"_The reason I do not wish to control your body all the time is because I recognize that you have far more to live for than I do. Numbness is an unpleasant existence so I do not want to experience it more than I have to and I encourage you to choose your happiness over my existence if the choice ever comes."_

"In a word... no." Shiro responded immediately, "You are my friend, your existence is one of the reasons I'm happy. Choosing happiness over your existence would mean sacrificing them both. But you hardly need to worry about it to begin with. Contrary to what you think I do not dislike my delusions. Sure this right now may be unpleasant but otherwise it's kind of fun. This world of magic that I invented is just like out of a fantasy novel and I'm the protagonist: the dashing knight of my dreams." She smiled and gave a short laugh, "I'm not going to go sane anytime soon so don't be afraid. And try to enjoy your time here. Even numbed you can still feel the warmth of the sun and appreciate a beautiful work of art can't you?"

"_I...will try."_

"Good, then let's strategize."

"_Since you teleported the tracker inside those two at the beginning once Oneeni succeds we will have the location of all of them. I suggest we simply tell Aleister that and call it a day, technically we did succeed in our secondary objective so they aren't much of a threat anymore."_

"Not on a worldwide basis maybe but I sure as hell don't want those two just wandering around the city."

"_We know nothing about those two, that puts us at a severe disadvantage. If we try to attack them again then they may end up killing us next time. We should let someone else handle it."_

"There is no one else."

"_What about the cult of Ma'at? You should at least meet with them and see if they can help. They would know much more about those two and their abilities than we would."_

"Fine... we'll do it your way. Then Oneeni and I will take out the others."

* * *

August 16th, 1:45

Skating along the power lines Oneeni quickly reached her destination. Getting out her keycard she swiped it and entered the building. She began walking through the corridors, stopped a couple times by security bots but a simple flash of the keycard and they left her alone. It wasn't too long before she got to the room she was looking for.

"Onee-chan? queries MISAKA10031." came the voice of one of the room's eight occupants.

"Good morning 10031-10038 I need your help so please follow me, says the shepherd says MISAKA10035." Another one of the eight dictated for Oneeni.

Then she turned around and began leaving the compound. Just as she exited the room however an out of breath scientist, whom Oneeni recognized as Amai Ao, came running up flanked by two security guards yelling, "Hold it," when he caught up he panted and wheezed and sputtered out, "who are you and what the hell are you doing. You clones, get back in your room."

"Order invalid, priority command in effect, explains MISAKA10038."

"Like hell. Now get back in your room before these guards fill you full of holes like they're about to do to this intruder."

"Actually they will not be doing that." A familiar voice said. When she heard it Oneeni's eyes widened in surprise and she bowed deeply to her mentor as he walked up behind Ao and the two guards, "I don't see anything wrong with what's going on. Those clones aren't going to be used until August 21st at the earliest, so what's wrong with taking them out for some fresh air?"

"They are scheduled to be used August 18th. I am not accepting another one of your ridiculous delays. This project has taken 2 years to be completed because of you, it could have been done in 4 months," Ao ranted.

"He wasn't ready 20 months ago." He said. 20 months ago Accelerator would have succeeded in killing all 20,000 with no one to stop him and then the scientists would have either discovered that SYSTEM was impossible or tried something even more ridiculous. So he had been tasked by Aleister with making it go as slowly as possible, a job which he much enjoyed and had succeeded at spectacularly. It had progressed as slowly as it possibly could and only now that Ao and his associates were pressed harder did it begin to pick up the pace. But that didn't matter because now Touma was ready to stop it.

The scientist glared at him but he only smiled back. "Now you see here. You can't use your authority here."

"That's the great thing about authority actually, you can use it how you want. My favorite is wielding it like a club to help your head find its way out of your ass." He said, still smiling as he put his hand on the sword at his belt, "remember that this is only possible because of me so try to keep your complaints to yourself."

There was pure loathing in Ao's gaze as he slunk off in defeat. Oneeni bowed again to her mentor and signed, "thank you."

"No problem. And as opposed to what he said You clones don't need to worry about that August 18th thing. The 21st sounds plenty fine for your test 10031 and you take the 22nd 10032. Until then have a nice time outside. Everyone needs a break." Then he looked at the two security guards, "you two included. Take the rest of the week off. In fact why don't all of the security personnel take the week off. Fully paid vacation. The bots can handle it." Then he put a wallet in one of the guards hands, "in fact here's a little bonus, courtesy of our gracious benefactor Ao."

"Yes sir," one of the guards said in a voice half admiration and half fear. Their boss was fine when he was like this but there were times when he could get a little... weird. And he could be terrifying when he was angry. Then there was the fact that he constantly wore a mask and armor and the fact that no one even knew his name to create a truly mysterious and frightening persona.

Now that he had cleared that up for her Oneeni brought the clones outside as she explained what she needed them to do then distributed their equipment.

* * *

After she had finished explaining she heard one of the clones speak up, "Onee-chan, do you miss us when we get killed asks MISAKA10031."

… There were those syllables again. The clones often used them when talking about the experiment. From the context she wondered if it was a place or something. Places often had nonsensical names.

She did understand the other words however. She turned around and signed to the clones, preferring to use her own "voice" for this. "Of course I miss you when you go. You all mean a lot to me and I don't like watching you leave."

"We miss you too Onee-chan says MISAKA10032. It's lonely without you. Why did you go.?

"I was asked to. I'm sad I had to leave you but I met some nice people and I'm happy," she stepped up and kissed 10032 on the forehead to try and comfort her, "so don't worry about me. I'm sure I'll still see you around. And if you ever need help just talk to me or Kuro-sama and we'll do our best to help you. And remember, never forget your dreams."

They nodded and Oneeni could see the subtle signs of happiness even beyond their neutral faces. They continued walking then she turned around again and signed, "What brought this up? Did something happen while i was gone?"

"9982 was killed after meeting Misaka onee-chan explains MISAKA10032."

Oneeni got out one of her notebooks and made a quick note, "9982 gone. Fate unknown. Went to "Korosu"?" then suddenly she stopped, she put away the notebook and signed, "who did she meet."

"Misaka onee-chan. The original. She- When! demands the shepherd says MISAKA10032 as she watches shepherd onee-chan taking out her sword, unsure if onee-chan is angry or excited."  
Up until now Oneeni's job in the lab prevented her from ever seeking out the original and defeating her, and recently she had both been too busy and had no idea where the original was. But if she could find her then she could finally defeat her and prove once and for all that she was more than just a clone, that she was better than the original.

"Yesterday, MISAKA10036 tells shepherd Onee-chan."

Perfect, she couldn't have gone that far in a single day if she and the clones split up... Then her smile fell. She had another job to do, one for Kuro-sama. She was relying on her and she couldn't let her down, even if that meant sacrificing this opportunity. "nevermind. Let's get on with our original mission. Switch your goggles to cyclic scanning and look for hidden presences of the description I gave to you, orders the shepherd says MISAKA10034 who proceeds to split up and do as directed." This sentiment was echoed by the rest and they split up to search the district, making sure to keep hidden among the alleys and roofs as they looked, their goggles, of the same make (though a far earlier model) as Oneeni and Kuroko's sunglasses, searching cycling through their various settings to detect any hidden presences. Typically they only used them to enhance their ability to search for electrical lines, but that was not their only possible use.

When they found a target they used the special trackers that they had been given by Oneeni who had, in turn gotten them from Kuro. The trackers were composed of a powered compound that constantly emitted a very low frequency electromagnetic wave which could be picked up by the receiver even from extreme distances away without ability to be blocked or detected. The compound itself was housed inside a sabot which could be fired from a typical

rifle. The sabot would separate shortly before it made compound with enough force to blast the two halves of the case far enough away that they didn't hit the target and the powdered compound did not have enough individual mass to be noticed by the target, let alone wound them. All of this combined to make the perfect tracking device if you wanted to plant it without being noticed. It was typically used by biologists for tagging animals but it had a significant presence in the black market as well, for a similar purpose.

For several hours they continued their mission and finally managed to tag all of the 19 priests without being spotted.

* * *

"_W, V, X, P, B, Z, S, U, W, G," _Kuroko listed off the bottom-most row of letters.

"Your eyesight is back up to 1.25 like usual," Heaven Canceller nodded, "that's good to hear."

"_If you don't mind me asking exactly how am I back to normal, my injuries were hardly minor yet I healed in a few minutes. More than that, from what Lammington told me, healing by artificial means is impossible for a void mage. He said that you were an exception but he never told me why."_

"Who do you think I am? For me it is a simple matter, but for anyone else it is unreplicable therefore knowledge of the process is unimportant. Suffice it to say that I ensured that your body was never hurt to begin with and leave it at that. Any more information would... disturb you."

"_If you wish. Then another question. If I am unhurt why am I hooked up to this IV and dialysis machine?"_

"Because you are a reckless idiot. Your mana has depleted by an immense amount due to the amount of regeneration you've done. Your soul is half as powerful as a normal person's yet it releases mana at a much higher rate, a rate which increases greatly when you expend it to regenerate yourself. Soon enough the excess will be completely drained and your vital life energy will begin to burn resulting, ultimately, in your death. The way to mitigate this is to ingest mercury. Lammington has shown you a safe method to do this but nightly doses hardly make up for the amount you've burnt. The IV is full of pure mercury which the dialysis machine is filtering out. It is less efficient than if it was not filtered out, but avoids the damage that it does to the body, and it is far more efficient than the tea."

"_I see..."_ Kuro nodded, ignoring the "reckless idiot" thing because she figured that if anyone had a right to call her that it was him, and it was not the worst thing he had called her over the years anyway. _"when will this be done?"_

"Another half an hour and you'll be back up to your maximum mana."

"_How long will that last?"_

"A week or so if you continue being your disregard for personal safety and burn through mana at a similar rate. If you start to feel weak come and see me and we will do this again, but do try to ensure that doesn't happen all right? Drink your tea regularly and limit mana usage to emergencies."

"_Yes Canceller-_sensei._ Is there anything else?"_

"One more piece of advice," he said then gave her a platter of cookies, "relax every now and then."

"_Yes Canceller-sensei," _she nodded then chowed down on the cookies, waiting for Oneeni to return. As she waited she decided to do some practicing, figuring as long as she was hooked up to these machines it wouldn't matter how much mana she burned.

She wondered if she could learn to do that spell that the egyptian priest used. The magic signature and wording was burned into her mind along with the rest of that awful experience. She didn't have all of the incantation and the magic signature was completely foreign so it was unlikely but she might pull it off with some more information. It could be a handy spell, if not for blinding then at last as a diversion, or a firefighting tool.

Then something else came to mind. The pelt she had acquired from the other guy - Where had it gone? She looked at her arm but the pelt was nowhere to be found. She hadn't stored it and wasn't aware when it had been taken or by whom.. Still she didn't feel super strong at the moment. She tried lifting something but it felt as heavy as ever.

Then she took out her phone and began doing some research into Greek mythology, trying to figure out a little more about what was going on. She was surprised to read that it had nothing to do with strength. Apparently all it was was armor. Now that she thought about it the guy had said, "Nemean Lion's pelt **and** super strength" which would be redundant if one granted the other. But then why had she been able to pick up the crane with it?

* * *

She continued her research and practice until later that evening when the door to her room opened and a very tired looking Oneeni opened the door.

"_Were you successful?"_ Kuro asked as she put away her phone.

Oneeni nodded as she walked into the room, surprisingly followed by two other clones. She could tell they were clones by the slight discrepancies between them and the original, far slighter than between Onee-sama and Oneeni, but with her level of obsession they were still detectable.

Kuro stood up, "Hello," she said politely, "my name is Kuro."

"I am MISAKA10031, MISAKA10031 introduces herself and shakes the hand of Onee-chan's friend."

"I am MISAKA10032, MISAKA10032 says as she does likewise."

"_Ichiman Sanjūichi-gō and Ichiman Sanjūni-gō, _I take it those aren't actually names. People should not have to go by numbers," Kuro said, echoing Shiro's sentiments. Though these words were slightly hypocritically given that she had called Oneeni Oneeni, but that didn't quite count in her opinion. "Mind if I call you... Ichigo and Jun?"

They shook their heads simultaneously, not particularly caring what their designation was.

Kuro turned to Oneeni, _"May I ask why they are here."_

Oneeni began typing, "They don't get to go out much so they wanted to stay out as long as possible but they can't just stay out on the street and the city's few motels are hardly secure. My mentor said that this hospital would be fine for the clones to stay at for a while as long as I got Canceller-sensei's permission. He said yes but said that we should stay out of sight and not bother things too much. He said he was busy so he stuck us in a couple of open rooms but I wanted to be here and these two wanted to be with me."

Kuro shrugged, _"sure, why not. The bed's big enough for four if we squeeze. We have a mission tonight and a busy day tomorrow and you all look very tired so we should probably get some rest." _Three nightdresses appeared in her hand, each a different color. _"since I take it you don't have pajamas handy you can borrow these, they should fit."_

What are you doing.

"_Appreciating a beautiful work of art," _Kuro whispered under her breath in reply.

... You aren't me... so I suppose it isn't infidelity...It's not like there's anything I could do anyway, you don't listen to me when I tell you to stop...

* * *

Accepting the pajamas the clones changed into them. As expected they did not bother to leave the room or to hide themselves. They were tired and were thankful for Kuro-sama's kindness. She was quite like how Onee-chan had described her. Unlike the original Misaka, Kuro-sama accepted them for who they were without a second thought. Mikoto-onee-sama seemed very distressed by 9982's presence and seemed disgusted at the very idea of her having clones.

But 10031 had hope. When this was over she wanted to find Mikoto-Onee-sama and talk to her before it was her turn to participate in the experiment. If she rejected her that was that, but the clone knew that she would be more accepting than that. After all she had been upset when 9982 had died...

The clones had experienced the horrible agony of death time and time again and each one left its impact on them, but shepherd-Onee-chan always seemed to think that death was somewhere that people went when it was their time. Shepherd-Onee-chan was always so strong when it came to death. She had seen so many of them die with her own eyes but she did not let it bother her. For the majority of the clones this was how they thought you were supposed to react. Death was not something to fear or show sadness over, it was just something that happened. That mindset was what allowed them to walk to the experiment on their own two feet despite knowing they would be killed.

But while experiences were shared between the sisters they did not all process it in the exact same manner, in addition things which were directly experienced by a clone left a bigger impact than things relayed to them so their environment affected how they handled matters. This was why MISAKA10031 saw death differently. She had by chance been present when one of the scientists had received news of a family member dying. It had severely disturbed the scientist who had to leave shortly thereafter. When MISAKA10031 asked about this she had been told that people get upset when someone who's important to them dies, that they miss them when they go.

But that would have to wait until August 20th, until then she would rest. So, once she had changed, she piled onto the bed with 10032, Shepherd-Onee-chan, and Kuro-sama. Kuro offered them the leftover cookies that she had been saving for Oneeni to try and had kept warm using her powers.

* * *

Kuroko might think she was in heaven if she were not an atheist and was not sure she would go to hell if she went anywhere. She was sleeping with three clones of Misaka who were all wearing revealing nightdresses. There was that pang of disappointment from Shiro that the original was not there as well as a bit of guilt coming from the same source for the same reason, but Kuro was perfectly content. She waited until absolutely the last moment to wake up Oneeni, kiss her, and leave towards their lesson then her mission abroad. The targets had stopped moving and had caused no damage so far so she did not mind leaving them until tomorrow, a sentiment Aleister echoed.

Finally the next day rolled around and early that morning, before the sun had risen, she went to meet the people who had been sent to help.

* * *

Between the Lines: 6

August 17th, 3:45AM

"Nngh," a man grunted as he stretched out his tired limbs then sighed contentedly, "Flying first class is great isn't it Tut? That was the most comfortable plane ride I have ever experienced."

"It was nice," Tut admitted to his friend in his deep booming voice. Tut was a large man with skin that was so dark it was almost pure black, hinting at his nubian descent. His clothes were as clearly foreign as he was, with hand-stitched cloth that was both thick and breezy. His head was shaved clean. "but I have not flown before so I have nothing to compare it to Hector."

Hector smiled, "I don't have too much to compare it to either. Before this I haven't gone many places. Even now I'm drawing on all my willpower to not get on the next flight home," he stated. As opposed to Tut, Hector was pale with brown hair. His clothes were far more modern though, considering he just flew here first class, looked surprisingly cheap. He wore a simple white jersey that emphasised his well muscled physique. "I don't like being away from my girlfriend for too long."

"'My girlfriend' leaves your mouth as often as breath doesn't it. You can be away from her for more than a week."

"You're just jealous cause you can't get a girl. If you really want one I can hook you up, my girlfriend's got a friend whom you might like." Hector offered as he shifted his shoulders to adjust the heavy backpack that was hanging off of him into a more comfortable position.

"I don't have the time or inclination to talk about that now. Ramses is counting on me."

"Hey I've been meaning to ask about him. He claims to be the original Ramses II right, but that can't be right, right?"

"I don't know, he seems a bit deluded if I may be frank so I would not be surprised if he just took a pharaoh's name like the rest of us and then convinced himself he really was that pharaoh." Tut informed his friend, then saw him adjust the backpack again, "are you ok?" he asked, slightly concerned.

"It hasn't been that long since that damn Alex stole the original pelt and destroyed my replica[1], and adjusting to life without it isn't easy. When i was getting out of my seat I damn near broke my legs simply standing up. The backpack feels light but that doesn't mean that it isn't straining the muscles."

"I can look after them if you want."

"Don't worry about it, I'd let all the bones in my shoulders shatter before I gave it up to anyone. I can handle it still, I'm kind of used to it. After all it is the same problem my ancestor Hercules had. He had super strength but that doesn't mean he had super durability or super grounding, that was why he got it made for him in the first place. Without it both he and I either break our bones when we lift something or break the object or, in rare cases, the ground."

"Don't worry, we will get it back and defeat Alex and Seti both. Then you can get back to your girlfriend."

"I'm sure we will. And it isn't all bad, I got to meet you guys after all, and you're pretty cool. even if you couldn't get a girlfriend in a million years."

"And you are bearable. Even if a stableful of camel's would make more interesting conversation."

"Love you too buddy..." Hector quipped sarcastically, "not as much as I love **my girlfriend** though."

The pair shared a laugh and some more friendly banter as they were escorted to a limo waiting outside the airport.

* * *

[1]: Because the pelt was created before Idol theory came into being the replica is not a "replica" but rather an item crafted with a similar, though less powerful version, of the same enchantment.

* * *

Author's Note: The last part of this chapter, before the "between the lines", is my apology to Kuroko for hurting her so much last chapter and also an apology for the many horrifying injuries and unpleasant situations yet to come.

In this chapter I also wanted to expound on Oneeni and who she is while also clearing up a few questionable things from the main series, which is to say the question of why these clones who should be top secret are left to wander around and potentially ruin the experiment. The obvious answer is because Crowley wanted the experiment ruined, but he wasn't pulling the strings (visibly at least, invisibly he pulls all the strings). So here is my explanation, as well as my explanation of the actions of 10031 in confronting Mikoto.


	14. Toaru Setto no Nichiyō

とあるセットの日曜

Toaru Setto no Nichiyō

A Certain Sun of Set

* * *

August 17th, 4:13AM

7th District East End

"Hmm... I think you might be a little more intimidating if only you were slightly taller," Hector said as he looked the person in jet black full plate armor up and down, "but then again my dad was nearly seven foot tall and three feet wide so maybe I just got a skewed perspective."

"I do not think that is the case. I have seen many tall people as well but that does not change the fact that he is very tiny." Tut agreed.

Oneeni began drawing her sword from its cane-like sheathe, annoyed by these people's attitude. Kuroko might have let her but Kuro advised against it. She wasn't that sensitive about her size so she didn't so much care about what they were saying as much as she cared about how rude they were being for the first interaction, so she could not help but be a little annoyed as she asked, speaking english like them in the distorted voice that her mouthpiece created, "is there a problem with that."

"No, it was only an observation, sorry if it offended you," the first man said and he held out his hand, "name's Hector, nice to meet you."

"I am Tutankhamen. You may call me Tut." he said doing likewise.

"You may call me 'the black knight'" "she said, shaking their hands.

"This is what I mean, that is such an awesome name and that armor is kickass, it sounds like the villain of some cartoon. But your shortness kind of ruins it, I feel like you should have another form or something where you grow to a massive size. You know what I me-" he began but a small buzzing rang through the air and he said, "sorry about this but I have to take it."

"I apologize for him," Tut said as he walked away, "he thinks he is complimenting you... I think. I want to thank you for assisting us in this matter and I hope we may be of help to each other."

Kuroko nodded, "I confronted whom I believe to be the leader yesterday and currently know the location of each of the 20 priests along with their Greek associate."

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to call you back. Love you," Hector said then hung up, "Greek associate eh? So Alex is here?"

"Names were not shared so I do not know. He was six foot two wearing a tan colored hoodie he claimed to be the pelt of the Nemean lion."

"Yeah, that would be him. You say you know where he is," he asked, now quite serious.

The change was slightly jarring so Kuroko found herself asking, "do you have a personal vendetta against him?"

"Yeah, he took something of mine, something important. It would be best if I got it back."

"You mean the pelt I mentioned? The invincible armor of hercules or something."

"Ahh, so you don't know do you? The whole thing about it being armor is a total myth. Hercules did exist, he did most of what the legends say, and he was super strong, but that super-strength was actually a curse at the beginning. He would break his own bones whenever he tried to lift anything too heavy for a normal human and would often crush things accidentally in his grip," Hector began explaining. Kuroko listened and it reminded her of the situation with Kuro, who could lift up things weighing hundreds of pounds because she did not have the internal limits to muscular contraction that most humans had. As a result she often dislocated her shoulders when throwing or lifting something heavy. "The pelt fixed these problems. It reinforced his muscles so that, while they could still be cut or pierced or broken by outside forces, they could not break themselves or his bones meaning that the only limit to lifting and grip strength is what you are mentally constrained to, Not only that but it reinforces the object you're holding and even the ground itself so that they don't break, it even gets rid of recoil on guns which is pretty awesome. Basically it gives you all the secondary super powers necessary to make super-strength useful." By the end of the speech Hector's tone had grown a little less serious and by now it was as playful as before, "I might not be as strong as my ancestor Hercules but my strength is nothing to scoff about. I can lift up cars pretty easy you know. My girlfriend's into cars so she asks me to do that when she needs to work on the underside or whatever it's called. What about you Mr. Knight, you got a girlfriend?"

"Yeah I do," Kuroko smiled, picturing her Onee-sama , "the best girlfriend in the world."

"I have to disagree but seeing as you haven't met mine I'll let that slide," Hector said, smiling and nudging his friend, "you hear that Tut? Even Mr. Knight has a girlfriend. You got beaten by a tin can."

Tut gave him a swift smack to the head with his staff then said, "Dawn is fast approaching and we should not waste time on these inanities. If you know where the leader and Alex are please tell us. We shall handle them."

"That was my plan," Kuroko said, clearing her mind of distraction. She handed them a small electrical device with a small display screen on which was a single arrow pointing off in some unknown direction. "That shows where they are. If you handle them we can take the other 19 priests."

"All by yourself?" Tut asked, slightly concerned for Mr. Knight's safety.

"No," Kuroko corrected gesturing to Oneeni, "I have help." The corners of Oneeni's mouth tugged ever so slightly at this recognition.

"Oh so that's a 'Men in Black' tuxedo not a butler tuxedo," Hector reasoned, though this reasoning was lost on Kuroko, "I suppose the mirrored sunglasses should have tipped me off. Well then we'll leave that to you. I got me a lion to hunt."

"And I a jackal," Tut added, "Before you go, black knight, I have something for you that might increase your chances of survival." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a feather; half black with upturned plumage and half white with plumage running down the opposite direction. "The Feather of Judgment, the Feather of Ma'at. The power of Apep is great but Set is not the only one who can tame it. This feather will act as a shield against the great snake's power should it come to pass. And take these as well," he handed her a number of charms, "I was told you were a magician so I am guessing you are able to use these. Our master would prefer the underlings captured rather than killed. Those are binding charms that restrain those with wickedness in their hearts and evil in their souls."

"Thank you. I wish you luck in your hunt."

"And to you. May Judgment be righteous and just."

"I will be," Kuroko grinned as she touched Oneeni's arm and the pair disappeared.

* * *

August 17th, 4:53AM

7th District, South end

"And Alexander looked upon the breadth of his kingdom and wept, for he had no more worlds to conquer," Alex quoted as he looked out upon the majesty of the city. Even the slums were so technologically advanced that they made the rest of the world look like a third world country, "If he had known about this place I think he would have wept for joy. I will be sure to fix his mistake and conquer it for him."

"If there is anything left to conquer. This search is getting us nowhere and now we have pursuers. We have no time for the slow method. Once the light of dawn pierces the horizon I will use my staff and summon Apep."

"That'll take a lot of life-force won't it?"

"A city's worth if I wish to bring him in full power. But once I do the one known as Tome who has the power of Set lying within him will be forced to reveal himself. Those million or two deaths will be a small price to pay for the return of our god."

"Yeah yeah, eggs and omelets and all that," Alex brushed off, "So I take it this means I need to protect your mummified ass eh?" He sighed as he retrieved and set up his telescopic spear shaft and deployable shield from his backpack, "damn airport security, always confiscating all the fun stuff." He took out a hunk of metal and began fashioning a spearhead.

it was crude and blunt but it would be enough to kill someone easily with Alex's super-strength, which reminded him. He took a syringe out of his backpack and injected it into his arm. Unlike Hector Alex's super-strength was artificially induced by drugs that dropped away the body's muscular limiters, much the same as Kuro had.

"Are you quite ready yet?" TV demanded impatiently.

"Yeah yeah, hold your horses or camels or whatever you ancient bag of dust." Alex responded,the drugs hardly helping his temperament.

"Good, because we have company."

* * *

August 17th, 4:21AM

7th District, North-East end

Kuroko and Oneeni shortly arrived at the first location, a small apartment complex that the priest had been hiding in. This time she could take these people out quickly as she had no secondary objective to complete.

She would have gone back to her method of needles in the neck but apparently that had done some permanent damage to some of its victims and might have resulted in permanent paralysis had the place been anywhere but Academy City. She had a better method this time.

She teleported directly in front of her target and teleported a needle into each temple. Oneeni would touch the needles and administer a small current through the brain. Unlike Misaka she could handle the flow with incredible precision and avoid any lasting damage at the cost of only a very short term, as in a couple seconds, unconsciousness.

But those few seconds were all that was needed. Once this was done Kuro took control and threw the charm on the priest, routing magic through it and causing the charm to bind the person in linen wrappings from head to toe making them look like a very poor mummy costume with no way to get out.

That's what would have happened at least had Oneeni not drawn her sword and begun to stab it into the person.

"Wait," Kuroko yelled as she grabbed Oneeni's arm, halting the sword's movement inches before it pierced the other man's heart, "what are you doing, you can't just kill them."

Oneeni's brow furrowed. How was what she was doing "killing" and why was Kuro-sama, or rather it was Shiro-sama right now, stopping her? Was killing a bad thing? It was making her head hurt just thinking about it so she decided to just do what Kuroko said and not stab him, though the reason for why she was taking this action still confused her.

Kuroko kind of understood why killing was natural to her, she was raised as a weapon after all. Given the confused look on her face she didn't even understand what death meant or that killing was a bad thing. When she had said the word she looked as though Kuroko had been speaking a foreign language.

That's when she had a very unpleasant realization. When Kuroko had been at the Judgment training camp had she killed anyone? She had specified non-lethal but if Oneeni didn't know what that meant.

She panicked for a second before remember the incident with the school bus and the gang violence where she had seen Oneeni in action. She had been very careful and deliberate to not kill. So why did she look so confused now.

'... different modes,' Kuroko realized and said to Oneeni, "Switch to non-lethal incapacitation and stay that way for forever." 'It makes sense that someone raised as a weapon wouldn't be taught the horror of taking a life, but it also makes sense that they would have a mode for lethal and nonlethal. That's why she didn't kill anyone before, because I made sure to designate that.'

Oneeni nodded at this, finally understanding her words. She couldn't understand killing but she could understand that humans had a threshold of injury. Once they went beyond that threshold they were dead. Non-lethal meant that she should not damage them beyond that threshold. That limitation was a bit of a pain though.

Then the sound of shattered glass rang throughout the room. The agony of previous experience made Kuro quick to act, taking over and putting a shield up in the direction of the noise just in time to block the barrage of sand from the shattered vial.

She looked around for the thrower but the room had descended into pure darkness. The sound of the shattering and the tinkling of the resultant shards gave her a general direction but she was otherwise fighting blind.

Switch, Shiro commanded, coming up with a plan. Kuro raised the mouth guard of the helmet and kissed Oneeni quickly. Then Kuroko teleported needles at random throughout the floor in the general direction he was. One of them found its mark and the cry of pain gave his exact location. A quick teleport followed by a quicker punch and he was on the ground.

The darkness lifted and Kuroko looked upon the unconscious priest. In his hands he held another couple vials. She took these and inspected them briefly before storing them. Then she shifted to Kuro and used the binding charm to wrap the priest up.

She quickly went over strategy with Oneeni to make sure this wouldn't happen again then kissed her to transfer control back over to Shiro. Then they proceeded to hunt the other 18 priests hoping that she wouldn't have to strain herself like she had this time.

* * *

August 17th, 4:50AM

7th District, South end

"We should be reaching them soon. You know the plan?" Tut asked his friend as they neared their destination.

"I'll go after the lion while you keep the jackal busy. If you manage to defeat him before I've beaten the lion then you join me on my assault," Hector reviewed as he checked his weapon and shield.

"Exactly."

"And I'll be sure to watch my back so don't worry about it."

"I trust you."

Hector nodded and smiled at his friends words then split off to give him some distance. Sorcerer battles tended to be big and messy with plenty of collateral damage. Melee fighters like him needed to keep a distance from any magic battles.

It wasn't too long before Hector was facing Alex. "Well well well, if it isn't the puny little mouse. Are you ready to settle this like real men, or mice rather in your case."

Hector didn't respond. He shifted his stance to one where he could best utilize his strength without straining his body, low to the ground with leverage and distributed load.

"I see, well then, let the games begin," Alex grinned as he launched himself at Hector.

Like usual for the battles of two heavily armored people, their fight was quite boring to watch. Most of it was a sumo-esque battle for ground fought by applying as much force as possible to their clashing shields in hope of pushing the other person back.

Tut and Seti's fight was far more exciting to watch. It began without a word passing between them but things were hardly silent. Each sorcerer chanted their magical incantations in a long forgotten tongue.

TV finished his first and commanded the sandy ground to rise and shoot towards Tut. But Tut was quick to react, finishing his incantation just moments afterwards he pointed his palm towards the sand and a burst of intense light shot forth, heating the air intensely enough to turn the sand into glass which fell to the ground and shattered.

Retrieving a charm from his robe Tut began his own assault. "By the scales of our goddess Ma'at, she who represents divine judgment and absolute truth. May the wicked be bound in the prison their evil makes." He chanted, and threw the charm at TV. From the small piece of paper shot streams of fabric, binding TV tightly.

For a moment nothing happened, then the linen fabric dissolved as a snake-like creature of darkness shot from TV's palm towards Tut.

Tut threw a feather towards the snake and the two items collided, fizzling out of existence together with only a slight popping sound.

"I call upon your servants foul demon Apep, the snakes that slither upon this earth with venom that eats at flesh and soul," Seti pounded his staff upon the ground and tens of snakes began crawling out of every nook and cranny nearby.

"I call upon those who have been judged by the scale of ma'at, raise your hands and crush these serpents," Tut did likewise and skeletal hands shot from the earth, crushing the snakes in their bony grips.

Though he wasn't losing this battle was taking far too long. he had until sunrise to stop Seti. He began advancing knowing that Seti's body was mostly mummified and thus frail. It would be easy to beat him in a melee battle.

Suddenly Tut felt his foot fall through what appeared to be solid tarmac and land on a small pile of sand that was underneath it.

It took him a second to comprehend what had happened but that was a second too late. TV activated his spell.

Nothing appeared to happen for a few seconds then Tut exploded in a cloud of blood and hyper-vibrating sand, his body falling to the ground in several large chunks as the pile of sand tore through his body like so many razor blades in the wind.

"You were a fool ever to challenge me," TV said to the corpse, "You couldn't hope to stop me from the start. It will soon be over anyway, it's almost a pity you weren't here to see the end."

"Heh, looks like your friend's bitten the dust eh. Such a shame... don't worry though, you'll join him soon enough Hector. You're already at your limit, anymore and you'll break your body apa-" Alex began taunting but was interrupted by a slap across the face that was enough to break several bones: Alex's jaw being one of them. The attack sent Alex reeling backwards but Hector seemed to completely disregard the pain.

"Shut the hell up!" He yelled as he drove his spear through Alex's stomach with the speed and power of a freight train. Ironically the pelt kept the spear from breaking as it impaled Alex and pinned him to the wall. Hector's arm was not so fortunate though and the bone broke in two under the strain, piercing the flesh of his arm.

"I am gifted with boundless strength. When strength has no purpose it may be a curse. It may strain the body, even break it if pushed hard enough, but when strength has a purpose, when it is used towards an ideal or to protect, then that curse becomes a blessing. So what if I need to break my body to use it, I have someone I need to protect with my strength and I will protect them even if my body turns to dust in the process. You might think that that pelt makes you stronger than me you, who thinks of strength as merely a tool of conquest. In reality though you are weak . These illusions of strength, I'll break them." He shouted as he drove the spear ever deeper into Alex's body and causing his shattered bones to pierce his arm further.

Alex coughed up blood as the immense pain flowed through his being and finally it grew too much for him and he fainted.

* * *

Seti turned away from his useless associate, leaving him pinned and bleeding, "It matters not, you are too late to stop me anyway," Seti scoffed as he rose his staff high in the air and the rising light of the dawn struck the gem at the top, finishing the ritual that he had prepared. 1 million citizens of the city would be sacrificed to bring about the demon-god Apep who would find the one who housed their god Set and force him to transform into their divine jackal-headed lord.

That's what should have happened at least. What actually happened was far different. Because what actually happened was... nothing.

Seti glared at the piece of wood as if there was some mistake but it was clearly his sta- wait.. had the top of it always been that worn?

It was not a perfect illusion but this had been the first time since yesterday he had looked at his staff clearly so he had not noticed. But now that he had a tiny bit of doubt the cloaking spell dropped and in his hands was revealed an ordinary stick, albeit one with the exact same shape and texture as his staff. Midway up the stick was a paper charm.

"Looking for this?" said the black knight as he appeared suddenly from behind the building she had just teleported behind. In her hand she clutched the staff, safely hidden in the shade of the building to prevent it from activating the ritual, "It is the wisest thing to get rid of the enemy's most dangerous weapons first but it is even better to allow themselves to think they still have them available."

Kuroko, after hearing the power of the staff, had made sure to take it and replace it with a previously prepared decoy yesterday during their fight using the trick she had been practicing. It was odd to see something that she had been working on in order to slip into bed with her Onee-sama be used for practical, martial purposes but you used what you had.

Hector took this opportunity and grabbed the short bronze sword that was on his belt with his good arm and quickly slashed at the backpack on Alex's back. Out of the pack dropped a jar that shattered on the ground, revealing a still beating heart. "Don't move an inch," Hector commanded, his sword hovering just inches above the pounding muscle. Then he looked to Kuroko, "Knight, please, get his head to a hospital. Most of his other organs are fine but he still needs blood circulating through his brain. I'll keep these guys here."

Kuroko was slightly confused but decided that this was not the time to ask for clarification. Leaving Oneeni behind, she teleported to the pile of blood and chunks of flesh and picked up the still intact head. Then she teleported to Heaven Canceller's hospital. He understood the situation in a simple glance and took the head, hooking it up to a machine that would keep it alive.

* * *

"Isn't he kind of irretrievably dead at this point," Kuroko asked bluntly, confused why they were going so far as to preserve a head when the rest of the body was... unusable. She had gone along with it but that was because her guilt at not being able to save him in the first place had temporarily overwritten her logic.

"Well... not exactly... " Heaven canceller said, "It's a long story. Egypt has an extensive history of mummification due to their environment. The preservation of dead flesh caused by the harsh desert drying out the corpse. Over time they discovered how to do it artificially and the process became more and more... effective. They would take out the various organs and cover the body in wrappings to protect it. However one particular pharaoh, one Ramses the Second, wanted to be preserved in life, not in death. So he asked his court physician to mummify him while he was still alive. I was a little reluctant at first obviously but eventually he convinced me to do the procedure. "

"I extracted his heart and lungs and other organs and placed them in magical jars. The jars have a connection with the body that allows them to perform their function remotely from an environment that can preserve their forms much better than the human body can. As long as they are kept safe and within range of the body they can perform almost indefinitely. However the brain is a different matter. I took measures to preserve it through other means but I could not extract it, even temporarily, without killing. As long as the head is fine they can be brought back, though it'll be a messy process depending on the current state of the body."

"Speaking of that if you could tell me where it is or pick up as much of the damaged tissue as possible."

Kuroko almost vomited at the thought of what he was asking her to do. "I, um," she found herself unsure what to do. She didn't want to just abandon him but she couldn't teleport liquids anyway and the thought of... that, was horrifying.

She was saved by a ringing phone. Heaven Canceler reached into his pocket and answered it. "Hello?...Hmm... I see... Thank you." He closed the phone, "it seems that isn't necessary. Aleister had previously dispatched Vyers who will be bringing them all here for treatment."

"Oh, I see..." Kuroko sighed in relief.

"It will be awhile before they arrive and I have nothing else to do so early in the morning so have a seat and you can rest a bit," he offered.

Kuroko nodded, teleporting her armor off of her and sitting down. Though told to rest she still worried about a few things so she got out her phone and texted Aleister, asking what would happen to the other priests, the ones she and Oneeni had defeated.

"They will be rounded up by Marshall and then extradited back to Egypt in accordance to my deal with the cult of Ma'at's leader. Magicians fall under the jurisdictions of other magicians and it is our role on the Science Side to interfere as little as possible. One of the reasons you are such a valuable agent is because you can operate on either side, but I still prefer to emphasize cooperation with other magical organizations."

Kuroko could accept that though she was a little unhappy that they wouldn't be punished according to rule of law like they should be. Then another thought struck her and she quickly researched something. When she found what she was looking for her brow knit in confusion. "Ramses II reigned 3200 years ago... how could you be his physician. Who are you?"

"Who do you think I am?"

"... You are Heaven Canceller-sensei, the greatest doctor in the world."

"Then that is who I am. I admit to nothing more and nothing else really matters."

"I... understand," she said though she was a little annoyed that he wasn't answering her questions. Though she knew he must have a reason. "Could you at least tell me one thing? Why did you become a doctor?"

"A long time ago I suddenly came into possession of the ability to save lives and an abundant amount of time and freedom. At first I was a little unsure of what to do with it but then I saw someone who was horribly injured. I used my newfound ability to heal them and the look on their face is something I will never forget. That was when I decided to continue saving people. Now perhaps you can answer a question of mine. Why did you decide to become The Black Knight of Academy City?"

"I owe it to Aleister and to Academy City to dedicate my life to helping others."

"There are other ways to do so. If I had asked you to come to the hospital and be my assistant would you have agreed? You could claim a similar debt you owe me and it does not require violence to help others."

"Well that's the thing. Kuro's said it before about herself but it applies to me as well. I hurt people, it's what I do. It's the only way I can help people, it's the only thing I know how to do. My power is not one of healing. I let myself become a sword in order to defend those around me, those dear to me, but a sword, even if used in defense, is only capable of cutting."

"That sounds like an excuse."

"It is I guess... Kuro says that, _'A better argument would be one of volume. Through you a might help 10 or 20 people a day, but under Aleister I can help thousands, if only indirectly, each night.'_ and I suppose that makes sense. It isn't my reason but I don't know my real reasons and I'm sure they're nothing but a jumbled heap of self-loathing anyway."

"Either way it doesn't matter," Kuroko sighed, "I'm here and doing it and the thing is, I'm the only one who can do it. Had it been anyone else they wouldn't have been able to take the guy's staff so inconspicuously or defeat the 19 other priests so quickly. No one else can get to another country so quickly or help in the same manner I can."

"I suppose as long as you're happy with it it's fine," he said and looked at his watch, "they'll be here soon so I should prepare. Rest if you want."

"Thanks but I have a busy day ahead of me. I'm going to hang out with Jericho and Birdy then I have work right after that and then I have lessons and another mission tonight probably. If the people are going to be here for a while I'll talk to them later. If not, oh well."

"Goodbye then."

"You too Canceler-sensei," Kuroko smiled and disappeared.

* * *

Author's Note: Thus comes the end of the Incarnation of Set arc. Next chapter will be nice and exciting and features the return of Jericho and Birdy, though only briefly, as well as an interesting and perhaps long-awaited development, so stay tuned.

* * *

Coming Soon: "That's only 1 seventh of a broken limb per person if you distribute it out."

* * *

Dedications: This chapter goes out to FlygonMaster, KainUltima, and Chaosrin as well as everyone else out there who left me reviews. I have a lot of fun reading them and I make sure to respond to each and every one(minus anonymous reviews which I can't respond to) so to those faithful readers who have yet to leave a review... well it would make me happy if you did.


	15. Toaru Kura-sa no Bubun

とある暗さの部分

Toaru Kura-sa no Bubun

A Certain Side of Darkness

* * *

August 17th, 8:47AM

After checking in with Oneeni and tying up some other loose ends Kuroko headed to Itora's house where she would be meeting with Birdy and Jericho for their day out. When she knocked on the door however she was surprised to see that it was Itora who answered. He looked ragged and tired as if he had been up all night. He was disheveled and messy, his usually slicked hair was all over the place, his chin had signs of stubble and his business shirt (he had discarded the jacket a while ago to combat the heat) was badly wrinkled.

"Hello, I'm here to see Birdy and Jericho," she said politely.

"Ah, yeah, sorry about that, but she's on a delivery, took Jericho with her so she'll be a while." Itora explained, "You want to come in and wait until she gets back?"

Kuroko nodded and entered the house, "I thought she said she was free today."

"She was but something came up suddenly and I needed he help," he explained. The house which was always a hub of activity was quiet today as all of his family and "family" were in their offices working hard. The only reason that he was not doing the same was because he prefered working from home and he could do so effectively. "By the way you might want to take off that armband. It can make some people around here nervous."

Kuroko's brows furrowed. She hadn't put her armband on today had she? She couldn't remember doing so but when she looked the green armband was fastened to her shoulder. 'How long have I had that on?' she wondered as she made it disappear.

Itora entered his home office with Kuroko at his heels. The room was a mess but he was too tired to care about appearances at the moment, as was obvious by his own slipshod demeanor. He sat back in his chair and resumed work.

Kuroko looked around. There were papers on every flat surface, including the floor, and even the walls had some graphs and other pieces of paper on them. One particular sheet caught her eye. At the top were the words "Group names" with the word "Group" circled. Beneath were several seemingly random words each one crossed out with the exception of the word "GROUP" now all in capital letters at the bottom.

"Why are you so busy," she asked.

"I'd say politics and business but they're one and the same," Itora sighed, "You probably don't know this but in addition to the board of directors there's also a Chief Director named Aleister who has even more authority than we do. For the past year he's been pretty inactive so we've had an easy time governing but right now he's become active again, a little too active. Recently Academy City has made numerous allies abroad thanks to one of his agents and due to that new and very useful trade routes have been opened. That's a good thing but it means a lot of work is needed to utilize these new opportunities. We're working on triple overtime just to keep up.

And that's just the positive diplomacy. There's also all this stuff going on with America. The bill that's going through dealing with Academy City will either hurt us or help us and unfortunately signs are pointing to the former.

Then there's all the problems that are going on within the Board of Directors itself. With all these diplomatic jumbles people are scrambling for power and trying to get around the rules and regulations of the Board. They say politicians are crooks but all the crooks I know have more respect for the rules..."

"Sounds rough," Kuroko sympathized, "I'm sure it will turn out fine though. And the bright side is that you're making a lot of money right?"

Kuroko knew the truth of this statement. She had predicted the effects of the allies she was gathering on Academy City's economy even before she had begun and had reacted suitably, investing in the companies, including Itora's, that would be the quickest to take advantage of this opportunity. As a result her own coffers were filling at a nice steady pace as well.

"But what do I do with it, that's the question. My pride as a businessman keeps driving me forward and getting me money but right now I don't really know what is the point of it all." Itora pondered as he relaxed back in his chair, "I have nothing to do with the money and power that I'm working so hard to get, other than spending it on getting more money and power, but I can't just stop working."

"Maybe you need a hobby or a project," she suggested.

"Ha - do I look like I have time for that? Right now sleeping would be a great project." But he mulled it over then opened a drawer in his desk and retrieved a dart from it. He then tossed the dart at a map of Academy City. It struck, "District 10 it seems... I suppose that place needs some urban renewal. Maybe if I find someone else to go at it with me we could make it a nicer neighborhood..."

* * *

Suddenly the slamming of a door followed by Birdy's voice announcing her presence rang out from the foyer. Kuroko nodded at Itora and teleported to the entryway. When she got there she saw Birdy, sweating heavily despite wearing light clothing, carrying Jericho on her back as she did her little skating movement through the door. "Hey there Kuroko-chan, good to see you, hope you haven't been waiting too long."

"Oh don't worry about it." she waved off.

"Mind waiting a bit longer then,so we should get changed. I kind of forced Jericho-chan to come with me and she got a bit tired so," she shrugged her shoulders to emphasis the position the two were in, letting that explain itself.

Jericho, ever shy, blushed and buried her head into Birdy's mane of blond hair which Kuroko noted had been recently cut to shoulder length, "I told you you didn't need to..."

Birdy laughed as she went down the hall, swaying lightly in her ever carefree manner, "I was the one who forced you to come with me, not that I regret that. You need to get out more."

As Kuroko listened to the two of them an odd sort of pang crept into her heart. They sounded like such great friends and she was happy for them but she couldn't help but feel... jealous. Jericho had always been so reliant upon her that when they had been separated after second grade she had withdrawn from the world because she couldn't face it without Kuroko,and now she had someone else, someone else who called her by her nickname, someone else who could get her to go outside and to smile like she was right now.

Uiharu had also been that kind of girl. Quiet, shy, secluded. Had Kuroko not been there for her during her training Uiharu probably wouldn't have passed, had Kuroko not been there when the flower headed first joined Judgment she would have been completely lost, had Kuroko not been there the bank incident Uiharu might have even died.

But now she had Saten. Even though Saten was a level zero she was still a source of protection and comfort for the flower headed girl.

Kuroko had so much power. She'd saved thousands in a day and effectively stopped crime for several weeks in an entire district. She had fought so hard and suffered so many scars, figurative and literal, all to protect the people dear to her and yet those same people were growing ever less reliant upon her.

'Maybe they don't rely on me becomes I am useless after all?' she thought.

* * *

The three girls had almost reached their destination when they came to a sharp turn with a single step shortly after. Kuroko stepped down but Birdy, with her skating and airheaded nature, forgot about it and ended up sailing off balance. Only a quick motion by Kuroko let her catch the pair. "You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks. Sorry about that Jericho-chan I guess I forgot about that part..." she said, finally letting Jericho off of her back. She had almost hurt her friend... but luckily she had another one right there to help her so everything was alright.

"Maybe you should walk normally inside the house," Kuroko suggested.

"Can't," she said as she continued skating.

"Why not?" When Kuroko considered it she had never actually seen Birdy walk normally, she always did her little skating thing.

They arrived at Birdy's room. The blond haired girl opened the door and went over to the bed and sat down. She carefully took off her pants revealing her relatively short, thin legs. Scars ran up the entire length of both of the damaged and poorly developed legs and her knees had clearly sustained some sort of severe injury in the past, "I got my legs broken a couple of years ago and they haven't quite healed fully," she informed with an optimistic smile, "It hurts to walk but luckily I don't have to with my power. And Otou-san has helped me with everything else, he was the one who healed them up in the first place." Looking around the room it was clear that it had been developed for something like this in mind. The necessities were within easy reach of the bed, the layout allowed for Jericho to get in and out of bed easily and there was even a call button and wheelchair off to the side in case something happened.

"I see..." Kuroko said, feeling slightly guilty now about asking. Jericho was blushing and looking the other way. It wasn't until Birdy spoke again that Kuroko understood why.

"You should probably get changed too Jericho-chan," she said, taking off her shirt, "We'll be done in a second 'k Kuroko-chan."

Kuroko touched Jericho and teleported the pair to the white haired girl's room which she had seen last time she visited. It was quite a nice spacious room but, like her apartment, it was cluttered with various gadgets and thingamabobs.

Jericho began to get changed as well, disregarding the fact that Kuroko was there, not so much, like Birdy or Oneeni, out of lack of shame, but more out of an abundance of trust and closeness. Even though she knew Kuroko's... preferences, she trusted her friend not to look at her lustfully.

"You've gotten quite close to Birdy haven't you?" Kuroko mentioned, turning around to give her friend some privacy.

"She's... hard to refuse. I can't help but get caught up in her energy. She's like you were," Jericho admitted, blushing as memories of her past couple weeks here and Birdy's almost daily antics and attempts to become friends with her. "She's a lot like you actually. Always positive, brave, kind, always takes great care of me, cool, pretty..." she stopped suddenly and blushed deeper as that last thing slipped out.

"I'm glad to hear that," Kuroko said, though it was only a half truth. After that there was silence for a short while until Jericho asked something unexpected.

"How's Kuro?"

"Oh she's good. She's a little confused right now but I think that will pass."

"Have you told anyone else?"

"A few other people have found out but I haven't told anyone and those people are unlikely to tell anyone else so it's not like it will be public knowledge. Thank goodness for that. I'm surprised you took it so well, I'm sure others wouldn't."

"I first knew Kuro beforehand so it wasn't completely out of the blue, and I know she's a good person deep down. But I think you're underestimating friendship," Jericho said, sitting next to Kuroko and hugging her comfortingly, "I don't have the most experience with it but even I know that true friends will accept you for who you are no matter what."

"I suppose but they don't need to know right now," Kuroko said, patting her silver-haired friend, "The knowledge doesn't benefit anyone and would just disturb them."

"Knock knock," Birdy said as she opened the door, "you guys ready?" She looked at the two and smiled, "That dress looks really cute on you Jericho-chan."

Kuroko felt Jericho's face heat up slightly and said, "Yeah, we're ready. Let's go."

"Itora-sama gave me a really big allowance so let's go to the nearby mall, it's a bit high class but I'm sure a couple of Oujo-samas like you are used to that," She said as they began walking (and skating).

"Huh, I'm no Oujo-sama..." Jericho said.

"Really? You always have this kind of high class air about you. So elegant and graceful..."

As expected, Jericho got very embarrassed and very quiet at that and it just got worse as Birdy went on. Kuroko decided to bring her back to reality by asking her, "So what have you two been up to lately?"

"Everything's really busy so I've been running all around doing deliveries," Birdy stated, sounding quite proud of herself, "Lot of going to different hospitals, delivering supplies and documents."

"They've contracted me out to fine tune several inventions from various companies. I just finished working on these," Jericho said getting out a music player from her pocket and handing it to Kuroko, "they gave me a few samples so you can keep that if you want..."

_Oneeni might like it..._ "Thanks"

"What about you? What've you been up to?" Birdy asked.

"The usual Judgment work. Oh, I've also been learning magic," She mentioned offhandedly.

"Really? Can you show us a trick?" Birdy said enthusiastically.

"Sure," she said and turned to Jericho, "mind being my assistant Jericho-chan?" Before she could approve or deny the request however Kuroko brushed her long white hair behind her ear and then pulled a coin from behind it. "Tada!"

The sound of chirping crickets was distinctly audible in the air, "do you have any more?" Birdy asked, sounding disappointed.

"Ten yen isn't enough?" she sighed, "Fine... have it your way," she said and put her hand to Jericho's ear again. This time when she pulled away she held a large wad of paper money. "Better?" She asked before making it disappear. This time the two actually applauded.

"Impressive," Birdy admitted, "how'd you do it?"

"Magic," Kuroko smiled and continued walking onwards.

* * *

August 17, 1:14 PM

After spending a few more hours with Jericho and Birdy, Kuroko said goodbye to them and went to Judgment Branch 177 Headquarters, arriving 16 minutes before her shift began.

"Hey there Kuroko," Konori greeted as the teleporter walked through the door, "Feeling better after your break yesterday?"

"Much, thank you," she smiled.

Konori wasn't fooled though. She had known the other girl long enough to know when she was hiding something. The teleporter wore her worries on her sleeve and Konori could tell by the slightly hunched shoulders, limp pigtails, and the lack of that little upward inflection in her little "desu no~" that something was bothering her little kouhai. She finished up the bit of paperwork she was working on then stood up. "I'm going to go out for a patrol, care to join me?"

Ever eager for a chance to avoid paperwork, especially the couple dozen apology letters she was in the process of writing, Kuroko heartily agreed and the two left, locking the office doors behind them.

The two walked down the street both relieved and unnerved by the almost unnatural silence that had descended over the district.

A couple of minutes into the patrol Konori spoke up, "So what's going on?" she asked simply.

Kuroko pondered the question for a minute then asked one herself, "Out of curiosity, if you were in trouble who is the first person you'd go to for help."

"Anti-Skill of course, why do you ask? Is there some sort of trouble going on?"

"No not really... I was just wondering." she deferred. She hadn't been expecting it but hearing that Konori didn't rely on her either was difficult for her. Even more than that it was for the same reason that it was always for: because she was too young. Had Konori been Kuroko's kouhai instead of the other way around she would surely have to rely on the teleporter.

Not one person in the entire city relied on her because she was Kuroko. As it was she was only ever relied upon as a tool. Kuro relied on her because she was the one in charge of the body. Aleister relied on her because she was an important part of his plan or something. Itora relied on her because she was a useful little pawn. Riko relied on her because she was a fun game to play.

But perhaps that is why she allowed herself to be used so easily, at least they were relying on her to begin with, if only because of her power.

"Earth to Kuroko," Konori said jostling the daydreaming girl.

"Huh? Oh sorry, I was thinking of Onee-sama," she said dreamily, using that as her catch all excuse. Inevitably though it became true and thoughts of the girl who was the love of her life soon consumed her mind. "Hey senpai... do you think I'm attractive?"

The question took the older girl aback, making her stop in her steps as she blushed deeply, "Huh?! Wh-Why do you ask?!" she demanded.

"I've been told before I have a cool demeanor and sometimes I've been called cute but it's never meant in **that** way. Of course most people wouldn't bring it up for someone as young as me and I'm not a good judge of it myself so if I don't ask I'll never know." she explained as if the question wasn't odd at all. She had been wondering recently whether her Onee-sama thought that she was attractive. She had told her maybe once or twice before that she thought Kuroko was cute and she did seem to be somewhat attracted to her but it didn't seem to be anything close to what Kuroko thought of Misaka and mutual sexual attraction would be important for what she wanted.

Konori didn't know how to answer at all. It seemed to be somewhat important to her kouhai so she couldn't just blow it off but... "I... um... well... uh..." she fumbled for an answer as Kuroko looked at her, waiting, watching, making Konori even more nervous, "you have... potential I guess. Once you've grown up in a couple of years I'm sure you'll be a very attractive woman."

A dark cloud instantly descended over Kuroko as she looked off to the side, "grown up... yeah..." she muttered as the words Vyers had spoken resonated through her mind, "Being a void mage, like Lammington, you are the same way." A picture of herself popped into her mind, under the picture was "13 years old". Then that counter began ticking up and up as years passed by while the picture didn't change at all. She looked at Konori's oversized chest then down at her own which was as flat as a board and thought 'I almost forgot... they'll never change...'

Every person in a 100 meter radius felt an odd chill run down their spine as a black aura of depression covered the region.

* * *

Konori spent the next 7 minutes on damage control trying to cheer Kuroko back up after the impact her words seemed to have had on the teleporter.

The doom and gloom was finally broken by the arrival of Saten and Uiharu who were on their way to the Branch Headquarters. Konori told them that they were out on a patrol and they'd locked the door, "have you found your key yet?"

"Umm... " The flower headed girl frantically looked throughout her pocket and bag, "I uh... no... Sorry."

Konori sighed, shaking her head, "come on, we'll go back together."

So the four turned on their heels and headed back to the office. However the return trip was not as quiet as the previous one. A block or two from the headquarters was a gang of 28 seedy looking types all standing in a group. A couple of them were smoking thus cementing their disregard for the law.

Kuroko, still fairly depressed and fairly glad to have a justifiable outlet, looked at Konori and said, "I'll handle this." She walked up to one of them, a tall, scrawny one with a baseball bat resting on his shoulder and a matching cap sitting backwards on his head. "This is Judgment," she began, "please disper-" She didn't get any farther before the man turned around and hit her in the head with the bat, knocking her out and onto the ground. She was instantly set upon by several others who began kicking her mercilessly as she lay there unresponsive.

"That was easier than I thought," said the one with the bat as he turned to the now charging Konori. He swung the bat hitting her hard on the arm and sending her stumbling backwards.

Konori clutched her arm which, though not broken, was not in working condition at the moment either. The gangster raised the bat above his head for another blow and Konori could only flinch as his arm swung downward.

'Maybe they don't rely on me becomes I am useless after all?'

The blow never came. There was no "thwack" of impact, only the grunt of the delinquent as he swung a bat that wasn't there and the curious, "huh?" that came after the realization that his weapon wasn't in his hand any further.

Kuroko stood behind him, his bat in hand, her head was hung with her eyes hidden, her hair was down, and a stream of blood steadily dripped from her head. She said only a few words as she bent the solid metal bat into a ninety degree angle, "on the ground."

"Heh. Still talking so tough even though you can barely stand..." He grinned as he stepped forward and swung at the girl, "you're the one who's gonna be on the ground!"

Kuroko raised the metal bat to keep the guy at a distance and grabbed his arm, keeping it straight and overextended. She raised the bent bat into the air and brought it down on his elbow. A sickening crunch followed by an equally sickening squelch rang through the air as the joint shattered. Then she swung at his legs, breaking them as well.

He sank to the ground and began screaming in pain. But Kuroko was not done. She raised the bat once more and brought it down upon the shoulder of his other arm, completely disabling each and every one of his limbs. The pain and shock soon caused him to fall into unconsciousness.

In this time Kuroko rested the bat on her shoulder and turned around to face the 27 other gang members. Her stare was cold, completely vicious, without mercy. The gaze of a demon, the gaze of the scourge. It said one simple thing to the people gathered there, one wordless sentence, 'If you don't want me to do the same to you get on the ground now.'

The sound of breaking bones still rang in their ears and the cold dead expression on the girl's face bore into their very soul like a drill piercing the heavens. No one could move for a second as pride battled fear within the delinquent's hearts. Finally one of the weaker hearts finally gave in to the fear and sank to the ground, putting their hands on their head in clear submission. The rest were quick to follow.

From there Academy City's numerous security robots took over, seemingly understanding their own wordless commands and apprehending all of the delinquents. The movement of the large beeping security robots also distracted the three girls, who had been watching the entire ordeal with looks of shock and horror on their face, as Kuroko began walking away.

* * *

Kuroko had gotten to the end of the street and was turning a corner when Konori finally gathered her composure and, still clutching her wounded arm, went after Kuroko. Uiharu and Saten followed close behind. Both of them had an odd sense of deja vu as they stared at Kuroko's shrinking back, with hair tumbling free.

"Shirai Kuroko," Konori began sternly when she had caught up to the girl, "I understand that the situation was pressing but what you did was completely overboard. W-"

Suddenly she was interrupted by a hollow, emotionless voice that sent shivers up her spine. It was Kuroko's voice yet not Kuroko's voice. The pitch and pronunciation was the same but the words had none of the passion, or arrogance, or humor, or anything that Kuroko so infused her every sentence. _"Your statement is inaccurate in four regards," _She began,_ "for the first let us look at the choices I had in that situation... I could have not intervened at all which likely would have resulted in my death for sure as well as unknown amounts of injury to you three. I could have intervened but not done what I did, in which case I would have had to fight 28 people by myself while already injured. Losing that battle would have the same result as before but even winning that battle would have caused injury to far more people than necessary. Doing what I did allowed me to convince them that fighting was inadvisable with minimal damage dealt. Bringing me to point two: To apprehend 28 people I broke four limbs, that's only 1 seventh of a broken limb per person if you distribute it out. Well below the range of acceptable force. Which brings us to point three: Due to the ferocity of their assault there was clear intent to kill. If a criminal shows clear intent to kill an officer or civilian then even use of lethal force is acceptable..."_

Konori's eyes widened then narrowed progressively through this speech. It was one thing to do that in self-defense but she showed no remorse at all, she just tried to justify it with logic as if she had done nothing wrong. Konori reached over and clutched Kuroko's shoulder then turned her around, wanting to look in Kuroko's eye and see if she cared about what she had done at all. "Kuroko-" She stopped suddenly as she stared into her kouhai's eyes. The pure white pupils set amidst the jet black sclera held no signs of life, let alone remorse. Konori stumbled back a couple of steps in shock.

"_The fourth inaccuracy with your statement is that you aren't speaking to Kuroko." _Kuro sighed._ "an unfortunate situation seems to have arisen that would damage opinion more by keeping the secret than revealing it..." _Unfortunate was an understatement. The concussion she had suffered had rendered Shiro unconscious and Kuro had had to step in to save everyone, though the only method she could think of was that particularly brutal maneuver. If she kept the MPD a secret then they would think that Shiro had done such a thing. If Shiro had no control over her actions though they would be more willing to forgive such a thing. Of course it would seem like nothing more than a poorly constructed excuse, or at least be far more unbelievable, unless there was clear difference between the two. The illusion over the eyes was a hastily constructed disguise but it seemed to work and serve its purpose.

"Sh-Shi-Shirai...san..." Uiharu said timidly, "are you okay? Tha-that blow to the head was pretty serious... you're just confused." she tried to rationalize what was happening but she just found herself even more confused. She was worried and concerned about her friend but at the same time... she was afraid of her.

"_If you actually believed that then it would be far more convenient," _Kuro stated,_ "But we both know that that doesn't make sense."_

There was a small silence before Saten spoke up, "If you aren't Kuroko then who are you? Where's the real Kuroko?"

"_My name is Kuro. Kuro is... a symptom Kuro supposes. The Power Development Curriculum is not error free you see. The altering of the brain that takes place in order to become an ESPer can cause certain other changes. For someone like Shiro who took twice the normal amount of time to go through it there were bound to be side effects. Shiro was lucky. All Shiro got was a minor case of multiple personality disorder rather than a more severe mental illness. Kuro only comes out when Shiro is in trouble so it doesn't really affect Shiro much and been easy enough to hide. The real Kuroko is unconscious right now but she should be fine soon."_

"Why haven't we heard about this before," Konori demanded, "this is ridiculous. There's nothing in Kuroko's file to suggest that she has any mental disorders."

"_Considering you just said 'Kuroko's' rather than 'your' you must have some doubts about that. It's an easy matter concealing such a minor mental illness. It has no visible signs and Shiro's behavior is unaffected by it."_

"Why would she hide it from us... I thought we were friends," Uiharu said, feeling a little betrayed in addition to all the other things. By this time she was beginning to cry at all that was going on.

"_It never came up and it is not a necessary piece of information to divulge. It does not change anything. Shiro is the same Shiro as she always has been. She has been dealing with this for the past 7 years, since long before she met you. If it makes any difference then that difference has always existed. Either way your reactions to Kuro's presence and existence thus far have hardly been positive..."_ Kuro turned around and began walking away, _"I never wanted to make you cry like this."_

As she walked away not one of the three had it in them to go after her. The only sounds that echoed through the streets were ever fading footsteps and Uiharu's soft sobs.

* * *

"_I'm sorry Shiro... I did the best I could but it had to happen," _Kuro said quietly to herself. Her injuries were physically quite minor, even if their effects were not, so she hadn't healed much yet, but the skull had resettled enough to rouse her other half from the unconsciousness. Kuro, after giving her a quick review of what had happened, was trying to explain her actions.

I... accept that, but that does not mean that it doesn't scare me.

"_So what should we do? Do you want me to clean it up or would you like to handle it by yourself?"_

Right now... I kind of want a hug from Onee-sama. I want her to hold me and stroke my hair and tell me everything is going to be all right.

"_I doubt she's in the dorm and her electro-magnetic field completely messes up the tracking device so I'm afraid that's impossible. I'm going to Vyers and Lammington's right now anyway to switch back so you can make do with Oneeni doing that if you don't mind the 'everything is going to be all right' to be coming from a speaker on her wrist."_

Oneeni is not a replacement for Onee-sama.

"_Yes she is, that is her entire purpose. She is a tool used to perform a function that only Misaka can do, therefore she is a replacement for the pereskia. You should do what I do and use her as such."_

Even to you she's more than that so stop it. Oneeni is Oneeni, Jun is Jun, and Onee-sama is Onee-sama. Just because they're clones doesn't mean that they're the same people or can function as a replacement. That's like saying you can be my replacement and as we saw from this latest catastrophe that is quite far from the truth, desu no~, Shiro added particular emphasis to these last two words as she always did when she was particularly annoyed with Kuro.

Shiro was actually quite a spiteful person. The entire reason for her "desu no~" tic in the first place was because Kuro had expressed annoyance at a person with that same quirk shortly before they had had an argument. Shiro had picked it up entirely as retaliation and kept it because she felt it fit the high class image she had begun to build for herself as part of her dreams of knighthood.

When Kuro was in control she dropped it entirely so it also served as yet another distinguishing factor between the two.

"_I do not wish to replace you. Your world of feelings and friendship sickens me anyway. You are the one who forces me to be a replacement. You are the one who runs and hides from her battles and can't do anything for herself. To me Oneeni might be a tool and a replacement for the pereskia but for you I'm the same thing. I'm just a tool and a replacement for yourself, aren't I?"_

* * *

The silence that pervaded her head told Kuro that the fight was over and she walked the rest of the way to the Fleur de Temps apartment building where her mentor lived without exchanging another word. She knocked on the door but there was no answer. She tried again but again there was no answer. She tried opening the door and found it was unlocked so she simply went in.

"_Hello? Anyone here?" _She called but received no answer so she went looking around. Vyers and Lammington were nowhere to be found, but she did find Oneeni in one of the rooms, a gym like area that she the clone to train. Kuro was about to ask her where the other two were but then she noticed that she appeared to be sleeping.

She was curled up, knees hugging her chest, in one corner of the mostly empty room, still in her tuxedo, hat, and glasses. She hugged her cane tight to her. Her breathing was slow and steady but she was a bit restless sleeping in such an uncomfortable place and she shifted constantly trying to get into a more comfortable position.

Kuro sighed and walked over to the resting clone. She knelt down and curled an arm under her knees and the other behind her back and lifted her up, _"We've been quite busy recently, I guess you haven't had much sleep in that time..." _She sighed as she carried her into her bedroom and set her down on the bed. She took off the clones hat and glasses and put them on the nightstand then looked back down at her. She sighed again and took a seat on the bed beside Oneeni, _"You're nothing but a tool," _she said to the sleeping clone. Then she laid down next to her and hugged her tightly, _"But we both are so you aren't alone."_

As if on reflex the clone's arms curled around the clinging girl, unconsciously returning the hug.

Kuro's hand tightened into a fist, _'this world of feelings sickens me...'_

* * *

Author's Note: I'm happy, as a KuroMiko fan, to see that there are more KuroMiko fics popping up on this site. A big problem with the pairing is that it is always treated so... poorly I guess is the word. Sure it is one of the more popular yuri pairings in the TAMNI world but even fics that ship the pair are still quite rare and seeing it treated with the respect it deserves is rarer still.

By the way, I'm getting a very kind and patient beta reader to go over my previous chapters including those from the first book. Since you're already this far I doubt you want to reread just to see how it's improved, but I thought I'd tell you anyway.

* * *

Dedications: This chapter goes out to Maa-shachou and ReaperLuca for writing two much needed additions to the KuroMiko movement.


	16. Toaru Tera no Junban

**Disclaimer: All views expressed are solely those of the characters and reflect in no way the opinion of the author.**

* * *

とある寺の順番

Toaru Tera no Junban

A Certain Order of the Temple

* * *

Oneeni's eyes slowly fluttered open and she was immediately and distinctly aware of several different sensations.

First was the position of her body which was now lying down instead of the curled up ball she had dozed off in, meaning she had either been tossing and turning and fallen or had been moved.

The second sensation she noticed was the presence of a softness under her body. Since the floors were not this soft this lead her to conclude that she had indeed been moved.

The last thing she noticed was a similar softness in her arms, pressing and entwined with her entire body from feet to the top of her head upon which rested Oneeni's chin.

The soft hair was let down so she guessed that it was Kuro rather than Shiro (whom, she noticed, always put her hair into those weird little pigtails, despite the fact that the longer hair looked so much better).

Oneeni sat up, careful not to wake up Kuro, something easier said than done considering how thoroughly they were entangled. Oneeni had had plenty of practice doing it before however.

* * *

For the earlier days of the experiment the clones had been given far more freedom to roam around the labs than later and she had a much closer relationship to them. During this time clones often came to her room, even if it was small and could hardly fit Oneeni herself, and slept with her for reasons that the clone herself still did not know.

The reason had been because they were earlier models unused to the slaughter they were inevitably facing and the presence of their shepherd-onee-chan was a much needed comfort.

What Oneeni knew was that it had stopped on the day when she first saw The Butcher: Accelerator.

From what she gathered later on, he had been throwing a tantrum and was destroying much of the lab and turning several of the freely wandering clones into blood spatters on the walls far ahead of schedule. She had been told to gather the clones that remained and move them to a safe place.

She had done so but, before she could go herself, she realized that she had forgotten something very important and had gone back to get it. As she ran through the halls she had suddenly heard an explosion behind her. When she turned to look she saw a tall lanky looking kid with pure white hair that hardly fit his face at all and a tacky black and white arrow-patterned shirt.

How the Butcher related to the experiment Oneeni did not know. He was apparently an integral part but whenever she heard anything about him those same syllables would pop up and she would get completely lost. All she knew is that she was supposed to avoid him at all cost and in the case that she did encounter him, she was to run as far and fast as possible.

So she turned around and did so, but her path was blocked when a piece of metal that had been ripped from the wall embedded itself into the wall next to her, blocking the corner she had been planning on turning onto and preventing her escape.

"Running away? Aren't you clones supposed to just lay down and die?" He said, his voice full of anger, "Don't you stupid guinea pigs usually fight back?"

His taunting was hardly effective as Oneeni kept running, this time straight ahead towards the next corner. She placed her hand on the wall as she ran and diverted the power flow through the light bulb above his head. She sent as much power as she could running through the circuits making most of the lights go out for a second and sending a significant lightning bolt down from the light bulb. Though the light bulb, and therefore the bolt, was too far ahead of Accelerator to hit him, the flash effectively blinded him for a few moments, enough time for Oneeni to escape.

"Damnit," he screamed, "You're not getting away!" He slammed his hand onto the ground, causing the plates to crack and shift under her feet in a shockwave of force and making her fall onto the ground.

His footsteps began to draw closer as he rubbed the stars from his eyes and Oneeni stood up and turned around. Her ankle had gotten twisted so she couldn't run away anymore even if she tried.

"Maybe... maybe if they all ran away this wouldn't happen," The Butcher said, the anger in his changing into a sort of somber resignation, "But someone out there will always think he is stronger than me. Someone in the world will always think they can challenge me. But I will become so strong that even God won't think of challenging me, and to do that... you need to die..." He raised his hand above his head to deliver the final blow. A shot rang out, echoing throughout the halls, followed shortly thereafter by a thud as Accelerators body hit the ground.

Behind him further down the hallway stood Ao and Oneeni's mentor, the latter of which spoke up, "and that is why only I can help you with this experiment. Sure others can provide you with the money but no one else can handle that guy."

"Handle... HANDLE! You shot him just to save a clone. There are thousands of clones but **HE** is irreplaceable! YOU JUST RUINED EVERYTHING!"

"Calm down. He's not dead or anything, just unconscious." He brandished his gun, "these bullets are specially made to deal with him, created out of a substance with which he has no experience and does not follow the normal rules of matter, so they cannot be reflected by him as long as I have the element of surprise. But they cannot inflict mortal injury upon him either. He doesn't even need a doctor at this point, just some medicine to calm him down and stop his psychotic rampages. Take this opportunity to treat his mental trauma as well."

"He doesn't need treatment for trauma. The guy enjoys killing, what trauma is he suffering through this?" Ao contested but Oneeni's mentor had stopped listening and was walking over to her.

When he had approached her she showed him the bible she had been carrying in the crook of her arm this entire time.

Oneeni could not tell if he smiled under the mask but he did put his hand on her head and patted it, "good girl," he praised the clone, "it seems you're the only one around here with a sense of what is actually irreplaceable... Now keep that book safe or I will flay you alive."

It was an odd sort of comfort that Oneeni always extracted from her mentor's words. It was not a feeling that everything was going to be all right or that sense of comfort one clung to when they were at rock bottom; that comfort which said that at least things can't get any worse. It was the sort of comfort that the men of the bible got knowing that god was on their side, at least as long as they followed the doctrine he imposed upon his followers. It was a sense of comfort that told her that she would be protected as long as she was useful or entertaining, as long as she put her mentor's commands before her own safety, as she had just done in rescuing the bible he had given her that he had told her to keep safe.

* * *

After that the clones movements were restricted to prevent the experiment for getting messed up if he got out again and slaughtered too many before it was time to. Because of that she hadn't slept with anyone else until last night. She had actually forgotten how cute the clones' sleeping faces were.

She looked over to Kuro's sleeping face and was slightly disappointed. It was cute but not quite as cute as the clones and, by extension (since she looked even better than the clones in her not so humble opinion), Oneeni's own.

It did bring back more memories though because of one thing that she shared with several of the clones she had slept with. She seemed to be having what the clones called, "a nightmare".

The clones' dreams often consisted of memory reviews of the MISAKA Network and their nightmares were often the reviews of the slaughters inflicted upon their sisters, but since Oneeni wasn't part of that network, she didn't have dreams.

It was very subtle with the nearly emotionless clones and the even more emotionless Kuro and had she been going by expression alone she would never have been able to tell, but the quiet muttering that held the smallest traces of fear were an effective enough clue, despite being composed of a single word, _"Hitori", "alone"._

It was an odd choice of words all things considered. Not only was she here but Kuro had Shiro and Shiro had Kuro. She doubted either of them could be alone even if they wanted to. So she brushed off the idea and refocused on what was important. She reached over to the side of the bed and retrieved her cane and unsheathed the sword that lay within the gleaming white staff. The highly polished titanium of the blade was like a mirror, a fact which Oneeni, having no other reflective surface handy, took advantage of, looking at her own reflection as she so hated and loved to do.

As she thought, the image looking back at her was a mess right now. She tended to have problems with messy hair when first waking up, which was one reason she was glad Kuro usually only came over in the evenings.

Oneeni was a vain person and vain people needed only their own impetus to want to prim and groom themselves. But someone who they wanted to look good for was excellent additional motivation for her, even if she did not know the reason she wanted to look good for her.

In the fashion magazines Oneeni often read for tips and tricks on looking better they often advertised methods of looking good for "your man" or things to that effect. But Kuro wasn't a man... probably.

...

Nope, definitely not a man.

It did mention other reasons why someone would want to look nice, like trying to impress their friends. Kuro was her friend so that could be the reason, but it wasn't that she wanted to impress Kuro.

She supposed that she just wanted Kuro's approval. Kuro was important to her in ways that Oneeni could not describe or even comprehend in many cases. She wanted the girl's praise, she wanted her approval, she wanted...

She shook her head and said a couple Hail Mary's, counting off on her rosary and trying to calm herself down of an emotion she could not comprehend, let alone name.

When she had prayed enough for her sins, she reached over to the drawer of the nightstand, opening it and taking out a hairbrush. It would be hard to style without a mirror but the almost painfully tight grip that Kuro held onto her wrist with signalled that leaving was not a realistic possibility.

As began brushing she let her mind wander and strangely enough they began to wander back to that word, "alone".

It was a dark black word similar to the word empty but it had tiny pinpricks of light speckled throughout. It smelled slightly of sulfur and tasted bitter. But worst of all was how it felt, like bleeding out from a tiny cut.

Oneeni had rarely ever had use of the word before. She was never alone. Her every movement was watched by a number of scientists and she was tasked with looking after thousands of people. She wasn't connected to the Misaka Network so she did not have the kind of close bond to the others that the rest had. Even now, free from the lab, she still had people looking after her: Vyers, Lammington... She looked down at the other girl, 'and of course Kuro-sama...'

* * *

Kuro was woken up by a slight tugging sensation coming from her scalp. When she opened her eyes she saw Oneeni looming over her, brushing Kuroko's long locks delicately.

'_Hitoride wanai...'_

"_You don't need to do that, I can brush my own hair,"_ Kuro informed the clone as she let go of her wrist. There was a red hand shaped mark but it faded quickly and would be unlikely to leave a bruise so Kuro wouldn't have felt that guilty even if she could feel guilt.

"Not very well," was Oneeni's response.

"_Just because I haven't had to for the past few days doesn't mean I can't,"_ Kuro defended. For the past several days the pereskia hadn't been home so Shiro hadn't taken too much care with her appearance, which was exclusively for the pereskia's sake.

Despite her protests she didn't move to stop Oneeni, instead she sat and let her brush her hair while Kuro worked hard to reconcile with Shiro. She was spiteful and there would probably be some ill feelings for a while but they were on speaking terms again at least.

When Oneeni had finished with Kuro's hair she went to have a shower as Kuro went around the apartment looking again for Vyers and Lammington. Again she could not find them. However on this search she did find a note. She picked it up and read it.

"If you have not heard as much from Lammington and I are stepping out. Our home back in France is having a bit of an issue. Lammington says he apologizes for the trouble but the magic lessons will have to be on hold until we resolve this."

Kuroko frowned and called up Aleister asking about this.

"Yes, they have gone back to France. There is an issue with the town they used to live in. Apparently it has been taken over by people who refer to themselves as the Knights Templar."

"Do they need help fighting them?" Kuro asked on behalf of Shiro.

"Who knows unless you go?" Aleister told her, "I have the coordinates if you are interested. With teleportation you could probably arrive there at about the same time as them, even with their head-start."

"_Very well then. I will be at the windowless building within five minutes. Goodbye until then Aleister-sama,"_ she said politely and hung up. Then she went to the bathroom and entered it. Oneeni was still in the shower washing her hair.

Kuro grabbed a towel then walked over and turned the shower off, "We have a mission," she explained as Oneeni cringed at the soap that had gotten into her eyes. Kuro gently used the towel to wipe it away and dry the clone's shining wet, nubile body as she explained briefly what she had been told and where they were going. When she was done she told Oneeni to get dressed then kissed her to switch control over to Shiro. Who left the room quickly afterwards.

Oneeni was unhappy about not being able to brush her hair or finish the rest of her daily beauty regimen that kept her the best looking of all the clones (in her own not so humble opinion) and even better looking than the original herself. Though, from what little she had seen of her, the original did have that sort of innocent cuteness that Oneeni found strangely attractive.

'Still...' Oneeni thought as she put on her tuxedo-armor and accessories, 'They've been very kind hosts so I'm happy I can do something for them.'

* * *

"Sit down Vyers." Said Lammington with the kind of impatience that only his compatriot of 4 centuries could instill within him.

"But I want to try piloting," the 500 year old man whined like a child, "Come on I'm safe to do it, I've only had two drinks."

"Three... and whether or not you are able to drive safely, piloting is an entirely different matter. Need I remind you that something like a crash is one of the few ways we can actually still die..." Lammington said. The stasis field that Vyers constantly projected over both himself and Lammington could whether literally any attack and due to its ability to render the universe unalterable within its constraints, not even a reality warper could kill them. However this did not mean that they were immune to all the laws of the universe and one in particular, namely Newton's Law of inertia, meant that if they were to come to a sudden stop they would be reduced to nothing but a puddle in or out of the stasis field.

Vyers sighed, "Fine fine fine. I guess I'm just eager to be getting back home."

"We will be there soon. But I understand where you are coming from, I am probably as excited as you right now," Lammington admitted with a straight face that contradicted his statement as he picked up the planes built in phone which was currently ringing, "Hello? Ah Aleister, was there something you needed? … I see... Can she handle it? Very well... " He hung up and turned to Vyers. "It seems my student will be taking over clearing the town. We are to ensure that no one else interferes with the operation."

"Is that ok?" Vyers asked, "It's understandable if we are the ones to help out but won't sending her in just cause problems with the magical factions?"

"I do not know the details of his plan but he seems to understand this. Apparently there are problems right now because the Roman Catholic Church is denying that it's involved despite the Templars being, historically, their troops. No one else is claiming ownership either so no one knows which branch should take responsibility with removing them. He says that introducing a third party of such obvious neutrality as Academy City is the best way to settle the matter."

"Like anyone is going to go for that argument... It's just going to piss them off and probably get her killed," Vyers pointed out.

"The former is a certainty and while the latter might seem like a sure thing as well I wouldn't be so sure. Aleister is sure to have some plan to keep her alive," Lammington asserted, "anyway we'll be landing soon so get ready."

* * *

The so-called Maiden of Versailles yawned as she eavesdropped on the conversation happening between the official ruler of France and an emissary speaking on behalf of the Pope.

"Do you really expect me to believe that you have nothing to do with this," the "ruler" of France demanded of the Pope's emissary for the thirtieth time, "They are your troops."

"**Were** our troops," the Pope responded, repeating his defense, again for the thirtieth time, "They were disbanded long ago. The king of your own land helped in the investigation and dissolution."

"Then why are they here now, taking an entire town hostage?"

"How do you expect me to know? Do you not have the capacity to figure that out for yourself? Surely they have made demands."

"They have not made a single demand. That's why we're asking you what they want."

"We do not know what they want, that is what I have been telling you. They are not under our orders."

"Then you'll have no problems with coming in and taking care of them will you? We can't send regular troops against Knights and the only magic we can spare would obliterate the town, a fate we want to avoid if possible."

"We are not going to waste our troops taking on an unknown enemy just to prove we are uninvolved. Now goodbye." The emissary finally said and hung up.

There was a long string of swearing before the French Prime Minister hung up his own phone.

The Maiden of Versailles sighed at the waste of time that conversation was and was about to turn off the phone tap when the Prime Minister picked up the phone again, "Hello?" He asked, unsure of who was on the other end.

"It seems you are in need of assistance," the voice that rang out from the other end in response instantly caught the Maiden's attention, as well as the attention of the Prime Minister.

"Aleister... What do you want?"

* * *

"Grand Master sir, we have searched sections 1-15 and are currently working on 16-20 but there has been no sign of the ark." The knight reported. Even with the enchantments he was absolutely boiling under the hot summer sun, trapped in his cumbersome suit of steel armor, which was worn and dirty from all the work he had been forced to do.

"Then keep looking. Every sign points that it is here, unless you are accusing me of being incompetent." The Grand Master of the Order of the Temples, also known as the Knights Templar, said antagonistically. Unlike his subordinate his own armor was trimmed in gold and polished to a mirror sheen. Strapped to his arm was a kite shield with the order's emblem, a simple red cross on a white background. Across his back was a battle-axe easily as tall as himself which was connected to a chain which connected to a pin and dug into his shoulder. The blade itself was even more polished than his armor, so much so that it seemed to literally glow with a golden light,

"No sir, I just question why this is necessary. None of us question your lineage and if anyone else does the axe and shield you possess are clear proof. What use have we of this weapon?"

The Grand Master took the axe from his back and with a single stroke of amazing power, cut straight through the arm of the knight in front of him, shredding the armor as if it were tissue paper standing in the way of a bullet. "If even you question me so impertinently then apparently I am greatly in need of it and you will double your efforts or next time I might use something else to cut your arm off." He said in a slow, intimidating voice as he hefted the battle-axe back onto his shoulder. Strangely enough there was not a single drop of blood on the edge of the axe to mar its perfect glowing sheen.

"I have finally restored a tiny fraction glory of the Knights Templar after all these years and I will make sure that it continues to grow. We will use the Ark of the Covenant to rally our troops, then, with our full glory which we have so valiantly earned, we shall bring it to Jerusalem and unleash it upon the heathens that desecrate the city."

"Sir yes sir," The other knight saluted with his still-functional arm, his fanaticism restored by the leader's valiant speech.

Far away a smile came to the face of a person as they watched the proceedings, "All according to plan."

* * *

"Aleister... What do you want."

"To help you. From what I understand no one is claiming responsibility for the horrible attack you are currently suffering. Perhaps one of them is lying but if it is a third party then there is no one to clean it up but yourself... or another third party."

"This is not the business of the science side..."

"Which is why I will, with your permission, be sending over a magician to deal with the matter."

"What..."

"I am a man who closely observes the distinction between magic and science and wishes to maintain that distinction. So when issues arise that are magical but are not the business of any of the major powers, a champion or two on the magical side are needed to keep that distinction in place."

"Why are you offering to help us... you have nothing to gain."

"It is an act of good will and a good opportunity to measure how well my champion can fight against magical threats. Magical activity in Academy City is rare at best and I want to ensure my champion can beat threats when they are encountered."

The prime minister stopped to consider it for a while then sighed and said, "Very well... if you wish to help then I shall take you up on that offer. But you are responsible for your "champion's" actions."

"He will be arriving in five minutes. Your problem will be resolved within 2 two hours."

"And if it is not then we will be forced to destroy the town, whether or not he is still present." The prime minister agreed, as if he was the one being magnanimous in this ordeal.

There was no answer and the prime minister hung up the phone, leaving the Maiden fuming in silence as she tapped the desk with her fingers in a manner that failed to express the full extent of her irritation.

It was not as if she was opposed to someone else cleaning up the mess but the fact that not only did Academy City have magical capability but the fact that they were using that capability to assist them with no apparent reason utterly confused and therefore annoyed her.

'Could it be that the Templars are right?' Unlike the Prime Minister the Maiden was privy to what the Templars had planned, or at least what her spies told her they were planning.

Finally she made her decision and called the knights that provided the main body of France's magical force. "Ready the bombardment spell for Meuse. It seems that our good leader has failed to ensure their safety."

"Yes ma'am," they responded and the Maiden grinned, "I hope there isn't an accident with the "champion, the Prime Minister is terrible at keeping time. To him two hours might pass in the blink of an eye..."

* * *

Author's Note: I'm disappointed in myself… I managed to get every chapter so far out within a week of the last chapter… but this one took 8 days. I apologize to you, my readers, for disappointing you and ask for your forgiveness in this matter.


	17. Toaru Ten no Ono

とある天の斧

Toaru Ten no Ono

A Certain Axe of Heaven

* * *

August 17th, 12:16 PM (9:16 PM in Japan)

Meuse region, France

As Kuroko stood upon a grassy, flower-strewn hill, she allowed herself a second to take in the sight before her. Despite the extensive travelling she had done in the past few weeks this sight, the beauty of the world outside Academy City's towering buildings and sleek chrome still left her in awe. The sight was a simple vista of green hillsides dotted with white and yellow flowers and several trees that towered over the horizon. She had left fairly late into the evening but it was just around noon here, the sun high in the sky, the constant shower of its bright rays were interrupted only briefly by the fluffy white clouds that drifted across the azure expanse of the heavens. The landscape itself was crisscrossed with the winding river that gave the region its name.

Set amongst such a magnificent panorama of nature the two black figures of Oneeni in her tuxedo and Kuroko in her knight armor covering her real armor that were standing on top of one of the hills looked completely out of place. But if one glanced towards the small village that lay not so far away one would probably change their opinion on what exactly was out of place here because the sight of a person clad in the full body armor reminiscent of the knights of old dotted the town in unknown numbers, overseeing crews of young and middle aged men who were dressed normally as they dug massive holes in the ground. Other knights walked around focusing on odd instruments that looked similar to dowsing rods.

Kuroko had previously made a full circuit at a safe 200 meter distance from the town while wearing her stealth suit alone and keeping hidden in order to try and assess the threat. She had managed to count at least 80 knights but the distance prevented any deeper scanning so there could be an untold number hiding in one of the buildings just waiting to ambush her. Even worse was the fact that not even Aleister knew about these Knights. He knew not their talents nor their abilities nor arsenal.

The only thing they did know was what they could gather from the name, the Knights Templar. The Knights Templar had been an order of French knights commissioned by the pope to fight for the Roman Catholic Church during the crusades, but it had been disbanded centuries ago. There was no known link between those knights of history and these ones here today. Kuroko did not even know their motives behind their actions, but from what she could see they were looking for something and were forcing the townsfolk to help them while confining the others inside.

They had cut off all power and phone lines that lead out of town, leaving the perimeter littered with scattered trees reminiscent of a hurricane's aftermath. That was unfortunate for Oneeni who needed an already existing source of power to use her ability.

Those were all things which could be seen by the naked eye but Kuro could feel far more. A magical barrier had been erected around the town which used Electro-Magnetic refraction to interfere with most forms of communication within the area and thus prevented her from contacting Aleister or even keeping in touch with Oneeni within the barrier itself.

Kuro also felt other magic which, though strong, was very subtle and she could only detect it because she had prior experience with it - trace amounts of Lammington's magic. The magic was widespread but there were several particular concentrations of magic that Kuro guessed were spell circles. It wouldn't be too hard to activate them since all they needed was a small infusion of void mana but she had no idea what they would do once active, so she decided that she would use them only as a last resort.

The patrolling knights seemed to be focused in one area while the ones that were overseeing the people in chains were scattered throughout. While this meant that there weren't many possibilities to get to the town without encountering at least one group and no way to get in completely unobserved given the wide open landscape.

There was one group, however, farther away from the rest, nestled in a gathering of hills that hid it from the eyes of the other knights. If she had to start somewhere there was a pretty good place, so she grabbed onto Oneeni's arm and teleported them close to them.

* * *

The group of thirty people seemed to be digging up the soil of the hill, intent on moving it one shovelful at a time. Each of the thirty men, both young and middle aged, had affixed to their back a metal cross, held there by magic, from which extended a chain that connected each of the thirty people to the next one in line.

The magic of the cross was both a simple and ancient one. Invoking the image of bearing one's cross to one's own execution, it subjugated the target -assuming their energy was weak to begin with as, it was for non-ESPers and non-magicians- and forced them to perform one simple task such as walk or, in this case, dig, until their cross was relieved from them.

But Kuroko was more concerned by the two Templars who were guarding them as well as the other two who were within line of sight to them.

"You take those two I'll take these two," she said to Oneeni, gesturing at the targets she had chosen for each of them. Then she touched Oneeni and teleported her over behind her target.

While the sudden change in position was still a little jarring for Oneeni, she recovered quickly and used the curve of her shepherd's crook to catch the knights leg, pulling it out from under him, then she slammed the cane into her helmet knocking him out. Next she took a throwing knife from the inside of her tuxedo jacket.

She had limited charge in the capacitor on her back and didn't want to waste it with firing the knife like a railgun, but she did use a bit of her electricity to speed it up slightly as she threw it at the Templar who stood some 40 feet away. The action had the additional effect of imparting an electric charge onto the knife making it a powerful one two punch as it hit and bounced off the chest of the knight's armor, knocking the wind from him as the electricity paralyzed him and sending him into unconsciousness.

Kuroko teleported herself behind another one and, using judo in combination with the extreme weight of the heavy steel armor, flipped him hard onto the ground where a few needles assured he would stay. Then she teleported above the other one, delivering a swift kick to his head before pinning him in a similar manner.

Kuroko freed the 30 people and gave them some simple instructions. However they did not follow any of them, preferring to scatter over the hills in fear while others demanded to know what was going to happen to their family.

She didn't have time to bother with these guys though, considering all the other people she had to save, and she simply grabbed Oneeni's arm when the clone came back over and teleported into the town now that she had an opening to do so.

* * *

The two of them took care of a few Templars they managed to ambush along the way as they walked throughout the streets.

Finally they reached a sort of plaza in which stood three knights, one of whom was decked out in far more luxurious regalia when compared with the others. Their backs were turned and they were talking amongst themselves about searching for and finding something. It was an excellent opportunity to take them out. They were close enough that teleporting was unnecessary so they simply walked up quietly, Oneeni slightly ahead of Kuroko.

They managed to close in on the Templars with nothing going wrong. Then the one who seemed to be the leader said, "well what do we have here," He spun on his heels and lifted a massive battle axe up into the air.

The axe he wielded was over six feet tall with a white, wrought-iron handle inset with pearls. Its blade looked as if it had been constructed by tearing the feathers out of a metal winged bird and pounding them into a single flat piece that served as the blade of the glowing, white weapon. The chain that connected from the pommel of the axe to the knight's shoulder was polar in nature, with the end nearer to the pommel forged of white gold and pounded into the shape of clouds while the opposite end was made out of black cast iron and forged in the shape of thorns. As they grew closer to the center they melded into each other creating a mix of black and white and thorn and cloud that symbolized the absolute dedication the wielder had to have to the salvation of others.

Kuroko hardly noticed the axe however as her attention was fixed instead on the far more jarring sight of Oneeni being cleaved in two by the ornate weapon as it descended with the speed and power of a bullet train, even embedding itself into the ground beneath her in its power. She watched the clone collapse onto the ground as her body gave way under its own weight. Not a single injury marred her body, a seemingly impossible result after such an attack, but her vital signs flat lined in an instant as she died before Kuro's own eyes.

"One do-" a knight near Kuroko began but his sentence was cut short when a punch caved in his reinforced steel breastplate and propelled him backwards into a wall behind him. She grabbed the other knight's helmet and shoved it against a nearby brick wall which gave way beneath the powerful blow.

Kuro was experiencing an odd sensation as she turned towards the man with the axe who had killed Oneeni. It was the same feeling she had felt when she faced down The Queen. It was an odd sort of calmness, a state of Zen that blocked out everything else and allowed her to focus on one thing no matter what happened around her, and that one thing was hurting whoever stood in front of her. She supposed that others might call the emotion... rage.

She launched herself at the Grand Master and threw a punch, which the Grand Master blocked with the red-crossed kite shield on his arm, with more than enough strength to shatter both shield and arm if the situation had been normal. As it was though neither arm nor shield broke, there was only the loud boom of two metal objects hitting at high speed leading into an anticlimax of inactivity as the blow did not even cause the knight to stumble. Kuro kept up the frenzied barrage of blows but all of them had the same effect, which was to say none. Even her powerful punches did not seem to so much as phaze him.

Finally she realized the futility of this and instead stepped back and kicked him. When this was inevitably blocked she used the shield as a springboard and kicked off into the air above him, ready to deliver the final blow.

The Grand Master smiled and he decided it was time to stop playing around.

Kuroko hit the ground where her target had been standing until his dodge. She used the momentum of the jump to turn herself around just in time to see the massive battle axe descending upon her.

* * *

She shifted her body to the side in an attempt to dodge but it was too late and the blade ripped through her left arm sending waves of the pain of dismemberment through her being. But as the Grand Master retrieved the axe she could see that it's blade was unstained by the crimson of blood. She glanced towards her arm and saw that, despite being completely numb and unresponsive and despite feeling exactly like the previous time when she had gotten her arm blown off, her arm was still clearly and firmly attached.

"From His kingdom on earth I take my shield, Bastion, that I might never fall so long as the walls of Jerusalem stand and the Lord looks over me. From His kingdom in heaven I take my weapon, Elisha, that my enemies may know salvation, for The Lord is my battle axe and weapons of war: for with Thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with Thee will I destroy kingdoms." The man quoted, "This axe, Elisha, shows the love God has for all his children. It cannot draw blood or kill, but it is by no means useless as a weapon. It will still cause pain and injuries, even death, but those injuries and deaths only lasts about five minutes. And you can kill and maim again and again until you get bored, or you can take the opportunity to finish them off with another weapon. It offers heretics a peek of the hell that awaits them if they do not convert. It is the salvation of their heathen souls."

Though the blood pounded in her ear and the rage coursing through her veins deafened her to the world, she did hear two important things among his speech, "cannot kill", and "deaths only lasts five minutes". A wave of unimaginable relief flowed through her at these words. Though this was meant as a threat, they were comforting words to her, knowing that Oneeni wasn't dead. "_Shiro, time,_" she whispered as she stood back up, bending her knees slightly and putting all her weight on her heels in case she needed to get out of the way quickly. All she had to do was delay until her arm was back in fighting condition and Oneeni regained consciousness -or perhaps in this case it would be regaining life.

It's been 1 minute and 57 seconds since he hurt Oneeni. Shiro told her. Kuro nodded as the Grand Master stepped forward to deliver a fast, powerful down stroke. Kuro leaped backwards as a small canister appeared in her hands. She pulled the pin of the canister and dropped it as she avoided several more strikes from the axe.

Unlike the far more skilled ninjas she had fought before, this man, this Grand Master, fought with very little technique. His moves were telegraphed well in advanced and demonstrated little skill or form, preferring to overwhelm his opponent using sheer power and speed. Fortunately for him, but unfortunately for his opponent, the magic he used ensured he had plenty of both to spare. Kuro only just managed to avoid the blows by virtue of training as well as the fact that her knight armor was mostly illusory while her real armor was created for maneuverability, allowing her to move freely without the encumbrance and constriction of movement that the Templars' armor burdened them with.

After two or three swings in as many seconds, the canister Kuroko had previously dropped made a small popping sound and a large cloud of smoke rose from a hole in the top quickly filling the area they were fighting in with a dense cloud of grey smoke that lingered in the air near the ground as if afraid to rise to the heavens as all smoke must eventually. Until then it provided her with cover.

Unfortunately what she had not counted on was that it would also attract the attention of the other Templars, two of whom immediately came to join the skirmish. What she had also failed to take into account was the magic that the Templars wielded. Their spells were used to counter and combat magicians as well as normal people and therefore they had several ways of seeing past both illusion and concealment. A quick incantation was all they needed to be able to see her clearly enough, though there was still some blur effect. The two new arrivals swung at her but the one she did not manage to dodge only hit her effectively cut-off arm and was diverted off of the armor besides, meaning she received no injury whatsoever.

She swung her one good arm at a Templar knocking him against the wall and unconscious but unknown to her the Grand Master, showing surprising stealth for a person in full plate armor, snuck up behind her and slashed at her arm, "cutting it off" at the elbow as the other arrival attacked her again with two more arriving.

Since her arm was out of commission she rammed her elbow into one of the new arrival's helmet, knocking him out before delivering a roundhouse kick to the other one. Once again though the Grand Master was quick to take this opportunity even if it meant sacrificing his men and "sliced" her leg "off" with his axe.

Kuro summoned the last reserves of her strength and, using the powerful, trained muscles of her one good remaining leg, she leaped into the air and kicked the last of the reinforcements in the head, using the force of the kick to propel her backwards towards Oneeni. She kicked the ground to move her those last few inches, dragging her jaw across the ground to take off the face mask of her armor allowing her to kiss the clone for what she hoped would not be the last time before she felt the axe sinking into her leg, completely disabling her. She briefly thought back to earlier that day when she had done something similar to another person and wasn't sure whether to label it irony, karma, or poetic justice.

* * *

The Grand Master, now with his two opponents fully disabled, leisurely strolled up and grabbed hold of the back of Kuroko's armor, yanking her upright as 3 more Templars arrived with several others not too far behind. The smoke finally cleared from the scene allowing her to see the axe that would be her judgment as it was lifted to her exposed neck.

"It was pointless to resist. We are agents of Our Lord In Heaven, His soldiers upon this earth and the tools by which He effects His will. His divine blessings protect us, you cannot win against that which He ordains."

"You seem so unrestrained about calling yourself a tool. Isn't it normally an admission of weakness to say that your entire purpose is to be used fulfilling the whims of another?" Kuroko asked in French, knowing full well the parallels that could be drawn to her own situation.

"Weakness? I would hardly call it that. After all, who would you rather building your house: three massively strong men working by hand or one weakling using tools and construction equipment as well? A hammer is much better for pounding in nails than a person's fist, but it can't be used on its own. It must be wielded by a competent wielder. A sword is mighty but it is still nothing but a tool used to kill and even the sharpest blade has no power if nobody swings it. Sure, being a tool means someone else is calling the shots, but God does that anyway and using us as his agents upon this earth His will may be done. It is not an admission of weakness, it is the admission that there is a higher power to answer to and by answering it, my own effort is increased tenfold. Now, any last words."

"If you only have five minutes before the effects of your weapons wear off try to make fewer long speeches," Kuroko said condescendingly as the timer that was in her head finally hit zero with that little monologue of his. She grinned as the axe disappeared from its place held against Kuroko's neck, reversing itself and embedding within the same instant into the Grand Master's head while allowing her convenient access to the hilt, a fact she took advantage of as she grasped the pommel within her teeth and wrenched her head to the side sending the blade across the unarmored throat of one of the flanking Templars as the others were stunned momentarily by what had just happened. However that moment was over shortly after when she teleported herself, still clutching the axe in her jaw, above another of the flankers, implanting the ethereal axe within the head of him as well. They attacked Kuroko from the side and behind simultaneously. She teleported the Grand Master's shield, Bastion, which barely brushed her foot as he collapsed to the ground, to block the attack that was coming from the side but was powerless to stop the one behind her.

Luckily this was no longer true of the newly recovered Oneeni who dove quickly to Kuroko and diverted the Templar's sword with her own rapier before dealing a blow to his windpipe with the sword's cane like sheath.

Unfortunately that still left the 13 or so Templars that were standing a short distance away ready to descend upon their hapless prey like a pod of sharks, hesitating only to take in the sight of carnage before them.

"_Just run Oneeni," _Kuro told her, having switched back because Shiro was unable to deal with the pain of four missing limbs for very long-having only been able to teleport by virtue of having 45 seconds to concentrate and calculate while he had been speaking, _"there's nothing you can do for me now. I don't want you to have to die... as... well?"_ The statement formed a question as Oneeni took a rosary out of her pocket, placing it in her palm and getting out her little blue book. Then she took a deep breath and began speaking.

* * *

The clone's mouth moved and there was sound coming out, but that sound was more like a choir singing in horribly disharmony, a cacophony of notes with no rhyme or reason, than any actual words. As she "spoke" the rosary in her hand began to glow.

The charging Templars stopped in their tracks in a sort of curiosity at the noise, a state mimicked by Kuro herself. She had thought Oneeni was mute no-

Her thought was interrupted when the choir stopped and the rosary vanished, replaced by a searing orb of light which formed itself into 13 massive lightning bolts that snaked out to strike each and every one of the knights sending several of them flying back and knocking all of them unconscious. In order to not cause lethal injury Oneeni was forced to release most of the energy into the air creating massive bolts that tore through the sky like a snake striking at the heavens in fury. The heat of the bolts caused the air to roar in protest, sending its thundering cries through the once peaceful town before everything became quiet once again, the only noise that of metal bodies hitting the ground and the dim echoes of the thunder the hills sent back their way.

Oneeni staggered on her feet, that act draining all the energy of her body as if she had just given blood after running a marathon. Her head became dizzy and she found herself falling to the ground.

She was caught by the still prone Kuro who had just gotten back the use of her arm, meaning that the other limbs weren't too far behind.

With a shaking hand Oneeni typed out a message on her wrist communicator, "I don't know what "die" means... but I'll never leave you behind... after all, you didn't leave me." she said before lapsing into unconsciousness.

Kuro sighed before shaking her head. This clone really had no prudence or survival instinct at all did she? _'At least she's loyal...'_ Kuro thought brushing a stray strand of hair out of the clone's face, knowing the vain girl would be annoyed if even a single hair was out of place. Then she stood up with now functional legs as she looked at the sky in which a massive red circle had just appeared. She regarded it with an air of curiosity before the hair on the back of her neck bristled as a powerful aura of destruction began to emanate from the circle. large red spheres of light began to appear.

It was some sort of devastation spell, probably set to destroy the town by the size of it. And Kuro could do nothing to stop it. Her magic was weak and even if she switched back the only people she could save in time would be herself and Oneeni, and even that would be an escape by only a hair.

of course that was assuming Shiro would run, which Kuro knew she wouldn't, not while so many other people would die around her..

There had to be something she could do. She might not have much power but...

An idea suddenly dawned on her.

* * *

"Stop there, This is the residence of the Maiden of Versailles, she is currently under house arrest so attempt to trespass upon these premises is ground for lethal force" One of two people who guarded the door to a luxurious French villa said to the would be intruders.

The intruders in question ignored the man and simply focused on the ground around the villa, still a good distance away and not, at the moment, coming any closer.

Still it was enough to put the guard on edge, especially considering the man's sudden appearance from nowhere. "Did you hear me, I said move or I'm going to shoot." He raised his gun towards the man and glanced at the ground that he was staring at, wondering what was so interesting. He saw a divet running through the ground, carving out intricate symbols as it proceeded around the villa before meeting back up with where it started. "Fine," the guard growled, confused and irritated at these odd intruders, "you asked for it." He pulled the trigger of his gun and heard the click of the hammer striking the chamber, but there was no bang and the bullet did not seem to fire

"When you live as long as I do you learn that it's best to conserve energy and you also find the best ways of doing so," The white robed, white haired intruder said as he finally walked up to the door, "it would be a waste of energy to bother defeating all of you so I figure taking away your ability to fire your guns is the next best thing. No matter how advanced they get all guns still use a combination of potassium nitrate, sulfur, and carbon in an exothermic reaction to fire. All it takes is for that reaction to have a little more entropy, for it to be a little less spontaneous, and no guns can be fired," he explained, "now assuming that all the people in this house are likewise armed I doubt there will be any trouble." As he finished his sentence a fireball hurled towards him, exploding an inch from his flesh, yet the attack seemed to cause no damage.

"Sorry to disappoint," the other guards said with hands wreathed in flame, "but you aren't so lucky."

Lammington barely spared him a glance before analyzing the guard's spell's magical field and neutralizing it with just a tiny bit of mana, causing the fireball in his hand to die instantly. The spell was so simple that it was easy to interrupt and the mage was such a novice that there were no fail-safes or decoys in the magical field that would allow it to withstand such a counter.

After all he had had several centuries to hone and refine his ability. He could control his magic with greater precision than anyone else on this earth, other than perhaps his own mentor, and had come up with ways to use as little mana as possible even on powerful and demanding spells such as the entropic control spell he had just cast. Additionally while, as a void mage, Lammington only had spells of defense and utility, within these categories his magical arsenal was vast, with simple and complex spells to achieve a number of different effects including analysis, surveillance, and enchantment.

With such easy opponents the 700 year old mage strolled through the hallway of the manor with the air of someone stopping by for a pleasant visit. He walked without the faintest bit of hurry, took time to appreciate the beautiful architecture of the house, even stopped to admire some flowers on the way despite the efforts of the many guards that were peppered throughout the gargantuan house.

Finally he reached his destination and politely knocked on the door before opening it and stepping into the room. Inside a massive bolt of energy filled the center of the room streaking towards Lammington but seemingly halted in its path. At the far end stood a blond-haired woman wielding a fierce orange sword.

"Good afternoon Elizaretta," Lammington greeted with a smile, "it is good to see you again but I must say that your hospitality leaves something to be desired. In any case put the sword down and have a seat, getting so excited is not good for your health and we already know what the outcome of such a conflict would be."

"What do you want Lammington, isn't it enough that you've managed to get me put on house arrest for the past 10 years?" The Maiden of Versailles, Elizaretta, growled but she had to admit that he was right. There was no way she could beat him, not The Immortal Hermit who had foiled her plans for an overt takeover of France 10 years ago before she could even begin her revolution and forced her to take a route of subtlety and subterfuge.

Lammington tended to keep to himself and so was not known throughout the magical world except to a few and those who did know regarded him only as a legend. Elizaretta however had believed the legend of the Immortal Hermit and, when the time was fast approaching when she would incite revolution and take over France, she went to the place where he was reputed to be and attempted to recruit him, figuring that if he refused she could always force him to co-operate. After all, he might be immortal but she was surely more powerful than him. Thus it happened that, when he refused, even directly opposed, her proposition, she attacked him.

She woke up the next day in this house being told that she was under permanent house arrest for treason and wondering how she had been beaten by someone who didn't even have the power to rule the country. Yet beaten she was and the power that he displayed while defeating her was incredible. With the exception of those who had gone beyond the title "Magician" like Majiins, he was probably the most powerful magician on Earth with the exception of the late Aleister Crowley -though Crowley only surpassed Lammington by virtue of talent as the French magician's experience with magic easily overwhelmed Crowley's.

"We both know that the house arrest has been by choice ever since they stopped your 'treatment'." Lammington shook his head as he walked around the spell frozen in time in the middle of the room and sat upon one of the room's antique armchairs. He smiled and said, "it really is wonderful to be back home."

"That it is," Vyers grinned appearing behind him and sitting down on the sofa next to him, propping his feet up on the antique table as if it were the coffee table back home. Vyers never really cared about antiques, his own age dwarfed most of them so to him they were hardly special.

This simple action pissed Elizaretta off quite nicely however. As the furnishing of the room attested Elizaretta liked her antiques and furnished her house with as many as possible. She did not like people mistreating her precious antiquated furnishings and her already short fuse was quickly enflamed by Vyers disregard, causing her to stand and fired another spell at the two, only for this one to freeze in midair like the last one.

"Doing such dangerous things in such a small room..." Vyers sighed, "I guess for now I'll just put these guys in the corner so as not to obstruct our view," he proceeded to do exactly that, picking them up as if the bolts of pure energy were solid objects and depositing them in the corner, "I'll dispose of them outside when this is all over unless.." He began as he rotated his wrist, turning the two bolts of energy around to face Elizaretta so that, if they were to released from their time-bound prison, they would make quick work of their caster instead of their original targets, "you wanted to continue being difficult."

"Now now Vyers we are not here to threaten only to warn," Lammington chided his friend as he smiled at the now clearly terrified Maiden, "I prefer if my home weren't destroyed so please try to behave yourself, ok?"

Elizaretta drummed her fingers upon the oaken surface of the magnificent Bureau du Roi, the one of a kind desk created for Louis the fifteenth himself. Her shoulders rose and fell unevenly with her ragged breathing and her glare was quickly interrupted by a fit of coughing.

Lammington stood up and walked over to her, tearing apart her multi-layered protections spells like a hot battle-axe through butter with nothing more than a little applied mana here and there to disrupt her magical field. When he had reached her and her spells were gone he spoke a short incantation and then paused for a second before saying, "you really shouldn't get excited, not with your condition. It's gotten a little better since last time but not much. You haven't been taking your medicine every day have you?" he said, ever the doctor's assistant that he was once upon a time.

"Shut up," the Maiden shot back, more annoyed at his friendliness than relaxed by it.

Lammington sighed, it was no less than he had expected. He walked over to a Ming Dynasty vase that he had given Elizaretta long ago as a sort of peace offering. It was full of water and held a number of roses in it of all different colors. One, a white rose, was wilted and dying. Lammington plucked it out and said, "I'll talk to a friend of mine when I get back and we'll see if we can't send over some better medication, but you really need to take it if we do," Lammington reached into his robe and pulled out a white rose, putting it into the vase as he tucked the wilted one into its place for disposal later on, "Flowers can always be replaced, but if people wilt it isn't so easy." He turned on his heel towards the door, "we'll be going now, please take care of yourself and don't destroy my home."

Vyers stood up and went over to the corner where the two spells, still frozen, were hanging in midair. He picked them up, hefting them over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "I'll dispose of these outside so don't worry about your house getting destroyed or anything."

With that the two left, leaving Elizaretta in the silence of the now empty room with nothing but a single white rose left as a marker of their presence. She walked over to the vase and brushed her fingers over the petals of the roses delicately as an almost affectionate whisper escaped her lips, "idiot..."

* * *

Kuro took a deep breath and focused on the energy surrounding her, all the magic circles great and small that were scattered amongst the town, searching for something, anything, that could help her. While she was weak Lammington was not, and these spells he had set up must be enough to protect the town, if only she could find a spell she knew, which at this point was only the shield spell.

But she just couldn't find it. Each and every circle seemed familiar but none matched what she knew. Time was running out and the spheres of red destructive energy were gathering in intensity and number. A few had descended already, hitting the perimeter of the town, wiping whole hills from the face of the earth.

Kuro was about to resign herself to fate when a sudden realization hit her. The magic circles she was looking at weren't magic circles at all, they were the individual symbols that composed a much larger circle. Each one felt familiar because each one was familiar, but only as part of a whole.

With that knowledge she wasted no time in pouring her mana into the ground activating the dormant magic of the circle. black and silver lines began tracing outwards from her hand, slowly at first but getting exponentially greater as they travelled throughout the buildings and streets, winding and twisting into elaborate patterns and shapes.

At that exact moment the red circle overhead sent the orbs of light raining down like spears, sending them down to earth as the circle spent its entire shower in a single deluge. They were met by what seemed to be small motes of black and silver light which traced a geometric image briefly in the sky. The spears of light hit these crisscrossing lines like insects getting caught in a spider's web and shattered, sending their horrid power screaming out into the sky in a futile attempt to satisfy their bloodlust.

Its chance at fulfilling its purpose gone the red circle vanished from the sky, skulking off to lick its wounds.

* * *

Now that that threat had been dissolved she stood back up tall as at least 30 more Templars made their way into the plaza, recognizing it as the source of the disturbance.

The knights stood a distance back, a sense of awe hanging so strongly over them that even the metal masks which hid and protected their faces from the world seemed to be etched with a look of amazement. They had arrived to see half their number lying unconscious on the ground. The Grand Master in whom they had placed all their trust in and had believed in the power of had been clearly defeated, his axe and shield in the hands of another, a being who even after two such awesome shows of might and magic exuded a thick black aura of power still so seemingly limitless it was as if he had performed a mere cantrip.

One very brave knight stepped forward, sheathing his sword more in resignation than assurance. "Who are you?" he queried, "that has such power?"

The confusion of the Knights was a powerful weapon in Kuro's hands. She had recognized that the sources of both spells weren't known to the Templars and saw no reason she could not claim credit and use it to intimidate the remaining members of the order. It was the reason she had solidified her mana into a visible state behind her as she had been taught - it made a useful intimidation tool even if she was not strong enough to use it effectively as a shield like Lammington was able to.

Kuro stepped confidently forward, letting the axe brush against the ground and allowing the black shadowy cloud of energy to swirl like flames behind her. She announced in her booming, disguised voice, _"I am Tenere111, The One Who Holds the Key to God's Realm and the Devil's Prison," _she blurted out the last part without conscious thought, but decided to keep going, _"Yield now lest you face a wrath so furious not even God will be able to protect you."_

There was hesitation but the power that had been demonstrated by this Black-armored knight and the scene of carnage that he had wrought was not something that could be brushed off. They were God fearing men but right now they had something to be even more scared of. So they laid their weapons onto the ground and knelt before this knight, no, this devil, that stood before them.

* * *

Kuro called the odd cross like restraints that had previously been binding the workers and ordered the knights to chain themselves up. Once they had done so, by merely touching the crosses she noticed, she told them to gather up to gather up the unconscious knights with their unrestrained hands (a very bad idea in her opinion but she did not know the magic of the cross) and follow her out of town.

She kissed Oneeni to transition back to Shiro and let her take care of everything else.

'Thirty minutes for a 2 hour mission, not bad if I do say so myself, though I probably would have been far worse off without Oneeni and Lammington,' she said to herself as several French special forces trucks rolled up, 'ah, they must be here to restore order. Good thing, I could hardly have done it myself.'

It wasn't long before she noticed the 44 guns pointed in her direction.

Kuroko rolled her eyes, 'why are the medals for my deeds always made out of lead?'

"Stop right there," said one of them who wore a uniform rather than armor like the others, "You Templars are under arrest for high treason as well as numerous other crimes."

Kuroko sighed and said, "You seem to be mistaken, I am not a Templar. I am the Black Knight of Academy City and I was called in to assist with the hostage situation. As you can see I was successful. Most of the actual criminals are here but there might still be a few in the area."

"Hmm..." The man considered this for a second, "While you don't appear to be lying I can't risk that you are. I'm still going to have to take you in."

"That will not be necessary," a familiar voice rang out as Lammington and Vyers walked up out of nowhere, "I can vouch for this person."

"And just who are you?" The man asked as about 20 people pointed their guns away from Kuroko to this newcomer.

Lammington drew out of his robe a royal blue baton with seven silver stars lining its cylindrical handle, "Marshal of France, Jean Lammington"

The effect of these words were amazing as every gun immediately drew up to its wielders shoulders as they drew themselves into attention and saluted him. Even the leader, clearly a high ranking official himself given the three stars that decorated his own shoulder, seemed to have a sort of reverent air about him as he heard these words. "Marshall," he said, "I apologize for my rudeness."

"It is quite alright," the white haired man waved off before looking to Kuroko, "On behalf of France i thank you for your assistance. I would like to talk with you a bit more but first I should help out here so feel free to take in the scenery for a bit then meet up with us in the villa nearby." he nodded towards Oneeni, who still rested in Kuroko's arms, "if she is injured we can take care of her."

"Do not worry, it's fine. Thank you," she said with a nod and disappeared.

* * *

She teleported to a nearby hill, the same one as before, and sat down, resting Oneeni on her lap and teleporting her armor off of herself with a breath of relief. It was not hot but it was still restrictive and it frankly annoyed her how everyone considered both her and Oneeni to be males. Not that she cared enough to correct them. Plus it did hide her identity even more effectively.

She looked up at the blue sky which held no hint of the red circle of destruction that once lingered in it. Though there were a few scars on the land scape but not many, this hill was exactly the same as it was before. Not even a single leaf had fallen from the tree.

The only difference was the addition of one more person who leaned against the tree. It took Kuroko a second to notice him and it took him a second to notice her, but as soon as they did they reacted with a speed one could barely comprehend. Kuroko summoned her newly attained axe into her hand, the heavy blade long enough to press slightly against the man's neck while his own weapon, a sniper rifle, was pressed against her own head.

The other person was tall and slender and ghostly pale. His shirt was a dull white and his pants were black, they were quite heavy and thick for such a warm day. He looked quite young and his face was handsome. However his eyes were cold and unforgiving. In his mouth was an unlit cigarette. A second later recognition fell over the pair, but the weapons didn't move an inch. "Teleporter girl, it's a surprise to see you here..." he said in a slight Russian accent with a voice so cold Kuroko could practically see frost crystals upon his breath.

"You as well. I haven't seen you since Mongolia, how have you been?" She said politely.

The man moved his sniper away and slinging it back onto his back. Kuroko returned the gesture by putting away her own weapon. The man took a knife out of his pocket instead and held it up to the cigarette in his mouth. He flicked something on the handle and lit the cigarette then dropped it onto the ground and ground it out. "I was demoted due to that failed mission, thank you for that by the way." He said in the same monotone voice as always.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"Don't be," he assured, "It was a blessing. I have a different boss now instead of that bezumnym monakhom."

"I see... So what are you doing here... I never caught your name last time."

"Prizrak," he said. Given it was the Russian word for "shadow" she guessed it was a codename so she answered in kind.

"I'm Kishi," she answered, giving him the Japanese word for knight, "so what are you doing here?"

"Classified. You?"

"Classified."

"…"

"..." The temperature seemed to drop as a silence developed over the pair.

"Who's the girl?" Prizrak asked, breaking the icy silence.

"My... partner... my friend."

"I see..." He said as he turned on his heels and began walking away, "a piece of advice about partners... never abandon them and never forget what you've gone through together." There was what seemed to be a touch of sad nostalgia in his voice as he said the last part. He walked away, leaving Kuroko with Oneeni, who was still sleeping peacefully in her lap.

When Privrak was a good distance away from Kuroko, he sighed and took another cigarette from his pocket, almost wishing he had the heart to smoke it. "Looks like Ivan was right. It won't be long before the war starts." He took a jar from his pocket which contained the result of his successful mission to this place. "Let's hope this can actually help."

* * *

"Your Royal Highness," Said a knight as he bowed before the second princess of the British Royal Family, Carissa, "Our agents have successfully penetrated and retrieved the information you requested."

"And..." Carissa prompted with a small smile of satisfaction.

"While specifics could not be identified it seems that France is definitely plotting some sort of hostile action to be engaged within a year. There are other specifics that you should probably examine yourself."

"A war is upon us and still her majesty does nothing," Carissa sighed. It seemed that the last resort plan was drawing nearer and nearer to necessity, "And you are sure that the trail was covered."

"Yes ma'am. The agent we planted within that cult of want-to-be Templars managed to subtly convince them that the ark was beneath the city, successfully drawing the attention of the government for long enough to implement your plan. The agent never showed his face and promptly disappeared before the assault leaving no trace," The knight informed her before lapsing into an anxious silence, hoping to avoid any other questions.

He was not so lucky. "and what was the fate of our little pawns?"

"Defeated and arrested," he said nervously.

Carissa noted this and stared at him suspiciously, "by whom?"

"The agent who was in charge of surveillance said he looked like Mordred from Arthurian legend, a knight clad in all black armor. He was described as having incredible magical abilities and apparently he hails from... Academy City. The description matches the person who has been going around aiding several city states around the world and getting them to ally with Academy City."

"...What..." She demanded flatly. When she received no reply she took a deep breath in and out, "This changes nothing that I can predict but I want more information on this matter, understood?"

"Yes ma'am." He saluted and left immediately before the princess had second thoughts about keeping her anger in check.

* * *

Between the Lines: 7

A man in full body armor and a mask stood in the center of the windowless building. Aleister glared at him.

"I always did wonder why you took such an interest in that clone and I always wondered why she was so different from the others." Aleister began.

"Well it seems you know now eh? It was a pretty good run there though," the man grinned beneath his mask.

"I am quite amazed I must admit at how you kept it from me this long, the fact that she is a speaker."

"it's always so fun to keep secrets from those who fancy themselves omniscient. And I have 40 centuries of experience doing it."

"I still must ask why you did it? What did you hope to gain?"

"Satisfaction of curiosity I suppose. Speakers have always been magicians in the past, powerful ones at that. I wondered what would happen if one became an ESPer. I have to say it was kind of disappointing, she can handle reading off simple grimoires like the one I gave her, but nothing complex and, while it doesn't hurt her since no mana is involved, it tires her out quite a bit."

"Speakers are exceptionally rare, so why did you waste this one? She would have made a valuable tool. Had you not obscured her name and hid her ability from me... I will ask you again. Why did you do this Aiwass?"

"It's not the first time I've lied to you and it surely won't be the last. Not much you can do about it either. Sure I need you in order to regain my power after that little stunt you pulled drained most of it but you need me as well."

"That 'stunt' was necessary to free you from your imprisonment after Napoleon sealed you in the middle of the desert. And while you are integral to my plans do not forget that you are doing so because I hold your core, the Book of Law. As long as I do your very life is within my power to maintain and destroy."

"But you won't. You need me. How else are you going to lure "him" out. And if I've kept this secret think of all the other things I haven't told you yet. Sure some of it I won't tell you until after it's too late but some of it I might let slip before that. Any case it's too late to change that speaker into a magician so you'll just have to make do with her as she is."

Aiwass turned to leave then but stopped as Aleister spoke up, "If you wished to cause me inconvenience it would have been better to let her be terminated altogether. Why did you save her life?"

"Not true. An ESPer speaker is near useless but, though it might have been difficult to find, it would be possible for you to find another." He said as he walked off. It was a lie though. In all honesty he had planned to do exactly that, let her be killed. But her song was so sad and beautiful... it would have been a shame to waste it.

Oneeni truly had an angelic voice.

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter is my apology for my somewhat lackluster last chapter. I worked really hard on it just for you guys and I hope you enjoy.

If you noticed the more flowery writing style, especially near the beginning, the simple explanation is that I am ready the book The Great Gatsby and it is somewhat influencing me. I'll never devolve into purple prose but I might put in some more descriptive parts here and there.

Anyway this is a pretty action packed chapter but there's also quite a bit of description and exposition, as always. You finally learn Oneeni's little secret which will be explained more in depth later since I still haven't explained much about speakers yet. You also learn a bit more about Lammington and Vyers. It was a good opportunity to show off their abilities without affecting the plot, since they are overpowered, as well as showing more of their character.

* * *

Coming Soon: "Ouch," they winced as they watched the person's spine get ripped out in a burst of sheer brutality.


	18. Toaru Enzetsu no Setsumei

とある説明の演説

Toaru Enzetsu no Setsumei

A Certain Explanation of Speech

* * *

August 17th, 1:27 PM (10:27 PM in Japan)

Meuse region, France

Now fully alone Kuroko looked back at the clone in her lap and thought back to earlier when she had unleashed that powerful attack.

"What was that Oneeni? And what was with those noises you made?" She glanced up at the tree to her side and spoke to the form she knew would be there, "Well Prometheus? I'm sure you know."

"**The noises were the angelic language and she is a speaker. What she said translates roughly to an equation for shifting a set amount of mass, likely the rosary she held onto, into electrical energy and controlling its release,"**

"You understood that?" Kuroko asked, seeing no way someone could possibly make sense of those noises.

"**No," **Prometheus admitted, feathers a bit ruffled at being interrupted, "**I just looked at the book she was carrying around with her, the one she was reading out of and that is what it said." **Literally ruffling his feathers now Prometheus continued, "**I told you about speakers not too long ago, how they made excellent magicians. I have never seen one made into an ESPer. It is quite the interesting result."**

"In what way is it interesting," Kuroko asked, a slight bit of hostility in her voice at Prometheus's tone, which sounded more like a scientist enthusing over an experiment than anything else.

"**Well normally speakers have the ability to speak only a very limited amount of angelic and may speak languages other than angelic. However it seems that, due to ESPer's being naturally plugged into the angelic record of existence, she has managed to gain a complete angelic vocabulary in exchange for an inability to speak in any other language. It would explain one thing I have noticed in your interactions."**

"What's that?"

"**She seems to be unable to comprehend the words "death" or "kill". As I have stated before, these words don't exist in the angelic language and so a speaker would be unable to comprehend the words or even the concepts unless they had experienced something firsthand that truly cemented in what it meant to die or to kill. She can, however, still understand death and lethality though, which is expected."**

"So what does it mean?" Kuroko asked, slightly concerned.

"**Nothing. It does not impact her life in any serious or even noticeable fashion beyond how being completely mute would. If she can wield the power of simple AEM then she does have additional potential though."**

"AEM?"

"**As opposed to AIM, Angelic Information Mechanism, AEM means Angelic Execution Mechanism. They are commonly called grimoires and are written in angelic or babeline, which is to say any other language conceived of by humans originating from the theoretical original language. The closer the language is to angelic, such as the earliest sumerian languages or latin, the more pure the grimoire is, though that does not necessarily mean it is more powerful. Oneeni would only be able to utilize the purest, those written in pure angelic, which should not truly exist anymore."**

"Wait.. AIM means An Involuntary Movement doesn't it?"

"**No. Your city knows nothing about ESPers it seems, certainly almost everything you have been taught is wrong. You see the AIM field ESPers produce is a link to the angelic record of existence and gives complete information on the object to which the ESPers powers apply. When complete knowledge is gathered by an earthly source an impossibility occurs. Due to the uncertainty principle it is impossible to know everything about an object. So the observer, that is to say the ESPer, is free to manipulate the situation so that the information is invalid and the uncertainty principle isn't violated. the personal reality is where the ESPer does this, deciding, using superpositioning, which reality he wants to become actual reality. Your teleportation is a perfect example of that. You analyze an object and gain complete knowledge of both it's speed and position in space. Because that is impossible a new position is chosen using quantum superpositioning so that the uncertainty principle is still maintained.[1]"**

"What an interesting... theory." Kuroko said, not willing to admit that everything she learned had been wrong but ESPer powers weren't fully understood so he could be telling the truth. EIther way this earth shattering revelation was soon overshadowed in Kuroko's mind by a particularly cute face that Oneeni made as she slowly began waking up.

Kuroko took her up in a hug and said, "Good job in there, you really helped me out."

Oneeni nodded inattentively, still mostly asleep as she curled closer to Kuroko.

* * *

Kuroko continued to sit there until she got a call from Lammington mentioning that they were finished with there work and would meet Kuroko at their villa.

The magnificent building was not hard to spot among the hills. It was colossal in comparison to everything else here. In Academy CIty it would probably appear far smaller but the lack of context made the 5 story building seem to tower far taller above the ground than it really did. The architecture appeared ancient, a talented scholar would date it at around 6 centuries old, but at the same time hardly appeared worn at all as if someone had been taking such immaculate care of the building even time itself was too respectful to ruin it with erosion.

A tall cobblestone wall encircled the almost mile round perimeter with only a single wrought iron gate at the very front where a gravel driveway wide enough to accommodate two cars, one coming one going, at the same time.

The garden which lay beyond the wall was covered in flowers of all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Kuroko could name several of the more common ones, roses, tulips, lilies, orchids, violets, et cetera, but many other flowers completely eluded her knowledge. tropical flowers of vibrant odor and color, the dark hues and strong musk of rainforest buds, even hardy and unpleasant cacti of the desert all populated the wild growth of the garden.

Lammington was standing out on the stone porch, waiting for her. When she and Oneeni, who was still exhausted and cradled in her arms, drew close he spoke. "Again, good work. Your help is much appreciated," He opened the door for her and led her inside, "you can put her down on the couch for now." He gestured to Oneeni then the large, comfortable couch that lay in the living room. Kuroko obliged, feeling slightly lonely as she put the clone down but at the same time kind of relieved. Carrying her in that bridal style had been killing her arms.

"This is a beautiful home you have," She said politely as she glanced around.

"500 years of acquiring wealth allows one to enjoy the finer things in life," He mentioned as he motioned for Kuroko to continue walking with him, "There are some things I should show you while we're here, things that would be difficult to learn elsewhere and elsewhen."

"Like what," she asked as she walked through the halls of the old house. As she was walking she saw a door of a shiny silvery metal, as opposed to the oak doors of the rest of the roomes, inscribed with runes and literally glowing with magic. "What's this?" She asked.

"Nothing important. The thing I have in mind is for more useful. It is the spell that helped win the second world war," He said as he lead the way into another room. It looked like a storeroom, filled to the brim with various bits and pieces. On one wall hung numerous metal sculptures, sculpted into circles with carved intricate symbols into it. On another wall were a set of three similar circles but this one was made of thin glass instead of metal and was filled with mercury.

"You see," Lammington continued, "contrary to common belief, the americans were not the first ones to figure out how to build a nuclear bomb. The germans created a functional nuclear bomb two years prior. Naturally deployment of such a weapon would have been devastating and possibly lead to axis victory. Normal magic wouldn't be enough to stop such a weapon so instead the british made a request of their most powerful magician, Aleister Crowley, to find some way to stop them from using the weapon. We had been involved beforehand so this fact came to our attention and we communicated with Crowley on this matter, trying to find a way between us to end it."

"The problem, you see, is that destruction of the bomb itself would let them know that it was dangerous and thus lead them to create more of the same type. So instead we needed to make it seem as if the bomb was a failure. We needed to allow the bomb to explode but only let a small amount of its power, the power generated by the actual explosives, to leak out. To do this we needed a spell that was powerful enough to withstand a nuclear blast., he touched the glass circles, "this is that spell. It is similar to the shield spell but it emcompasses the entire body, freezing one's self in time for however long the initial magical charge lasts, since you cannot charge it with mana while frozen. Normally this is only several seconds or so but during that time nothing is capable of changing anything that is encompassed by the spell. In exchange you cannot act, so it is useless in most battles where people can cast spells multiple times but against a bomb it is perfect because, also unlike the shield spell, the energy is not diverted but sent to heaven. Alone among all the spells this is the only one that actually feeds energy back into heaven you see."

"That is significant because it allowed us to siphon all the energy of a nuclear bomb into the shield absorbing all of the blast while Crowley handled the illusion aspects and Vyers handled the shielding to ensure that all the energy was directed towards me."  
"So that spell can handle the force of a nuclear bomb?" Kuroko asked, quite amazed.

"A small one, I have not had it tested on a large one and I hope I never do. But yes, for a fifteen or twenty it can. For you i believe you could maintain the spell for about a second or two so it is not as useful but there may come a time when a second of invincibility will make all the difference. Now switch to Kuro so that I may teach you."

Kuroko obliged and Lammington showed Kuro the particular magical pattern that the spell had and telling her that the magical circle for it was the one made of glass and mercury.

"Since this spell necessitates a mercury circle it is difficult to create one by hand so I premade the circle when I was developing the spell, After that I realized that all spells magical circles could be premade," Lammington told her, showing her the metal sculptures on the wall that Kuro now realized were indeed magical circles, "It is simpler than redrawing them repeatedly and the metal they are crafted from can actually infuse the spell with additional power. They are difficult to deploy however but with your item storing it should be easy enough. For now just take the glass and mercury one though. It is best to focus on one thing at a time."

Kuro nodded, going back to the living room to kiss Oneeni and change back into Shiro, then she stored the magical circle."

For the rest of the day this continued, Kuro receiving lesson after lesson about this and that that could only be learned here.

Eventually, as night fell and Oneeni finally awoke, they decided to go back. Kuroko teleporting with Oneeni while Lammington and Vyers went back by jet.

After dropping Oneeni off she went on home to her dorm. She was saddened to see that her Onee-sama still wasn't back. She was getting more worried by the day.

Of course today that was just the tip of an iceberg of worries. Uiharu, Saten, and Konori now all knew about Kuro and had been introduced to her in the worst way possible.

How were they taking it?

* * *

August 17th, 2:12 PM

Academy City, Konori's apartment

Konori collapsed on her bed, glaring so hard at the ceiling she could actually see the sky beyond.

After the shock of what she had seen several minutes prior it had taken her a while to decide how she should feel. The maelstrom of emotions had made it impossible to get any work done so she, along with Uiharu, was taking the rest of the day off.

It had been over a year since Kuroko joined Judgment, a year since she had begun working side by side with Konori. The older girl had thought she was close to her kohai, that the teleporter trusted her enough to come to her with any problem and they could sort it out together. She had known Kuroko longer than any of her other friends.

So why hadn't the teleporter come to her with this before?

For that matter, what was "this"? Was it really schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder or whatever? Or was that a lie to justify her behavior?

"Considering you just said 'Kuroko's' rather than 'your' you must have some doubts about that." The monster inside her kohai's body had said and as much as it pained her to do so Konori could not help but agree.

Whenever she pictured Kuroko she could not help but picture that bright shining girl who always tried so hard for other people. That short-fused yet level-headed girl who was so quick to anger and panic at the slightest thing yet so calm when everyone around her was losing their own head. That sensitive yet brave girl who had nearly been reduced to tears by the bullying of her "fellow" Judgment members only a few days ago yet braved through it for the sake of her colleagues. That warm, hopeful girl who was like a little sister to her with a smile that would brighten the room when she allowed it to show.

She could not picture that dark, gloomy monster who had no regard for anyone. That dispassionate, indifferent monster who seemed to feel nothing and spoke with the blank chill of a graveyard whisper. That detached, oppressive monster who would not hesitate to rip anyone who spoke against her apart. That cold, cynical monster whose face showed no expression and whose gaze was as cold and heartless the arctic wind. She would never picture that as anyone other than a demon in Kuroko's skin.

Kuroko was not the most merciful or forgiving in a fight. She was always reputed to be a demonic figure who would rip apart your body and soul if she caught you. But this... this was something else. She may have been merciless before but she was never brutal, and brutal was the only word she could hope to use to describe that encounter, to describe the shattering bones that still rang in her ear and the screams of pain that had accompanied them. Savage was the only word to describe the sight of a young girl bending a solid metal bat and delivering swift, calculated strikes, one after the other, still flitting into Konori's mind.

But didn't that very fact condemn the monster's argument? That "Kuro" had claimed that she had been around for seven years. In all that time surely this would have happened before or Kuroko, who showed every emotion on her sleeve and had no secrets, would surely have let some clue slip. Yet there was nothing to even hint at a mental disorder and this savagery was completely unprecedent- Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a distant memory: "The culprits suffered 4 concussions, 3 broken ribs, a dislocated jaw, and a broken arm."

It was the that Konori realized that there had been clues. Even looking past the girl's obviously polar nature she had an odd propensity for talking to herself, one that had gotten worse recently, namely after that particular fight those 2 months ago.

The more she looked at the past two months the more evidence she found. Even before then, when she first joined Judgment especially, there had been signs of some sort of mental issues, though Konori had always seen them as part of Kuroko's naturally polar nature and conflicted personality rather than something deeper. But if she was literally dual natured, if she actually had two personalities conflicting, it started to make sense.

But what didn't make sense was why she hadn't told her before? What did she think Konori would do if she found out?

But the answer was obvious. "Kuro" had said it as clear as day "your reactions to Kuro's presence and existence thus far have hardly been positive..."

"I never wanted to make you cry like this."

The reason that the teleporter hadn't told her was she was afraid of her senpai reacting exactly as she was reacting right now... with anger and fear. Konori loved her kohai like a sister yet here she was, afraid of the very girl who she cared so much for.

Did this make her care for her any less? Did it truly change how she perceived Kuroko?

The warm white smile of her kohai or the cold black heart of that monster... which was Kuroko's true form?

* * *

August 17th, 2:18 PM

Academy City, Uiharu's apartment

"Feeling better," Saten asked her best friend as she patted the flower headed girl's back. Uiharu's head was buried in her shoulder which was damp from tears and, less pleasantly, snot from Uiharu's runny nose.

The long haired girl felt her friend shake her head, her throat too pained from all the sobbing to talk. She wasn't crying anymore but it would take her a bit to recover.

Saten was angry, no furious, at Kuroko for this. She honestly didn't care about the secret but she had made Uiharu cry and that was unforgivable.

Then again it was hardly like the teleporter had tried to make her cry. Of all her friends she had known the teleporter for the shortest amount of time and had no special relation to her like the others did, so she was more objective in her viewing of the incident than the others. She recognized that the actions Kuroko took had been to protect everyone. She saw little difference in this particular incident and the one where she had torn down a building just to protect Saten and that other level zero from those people who were selling the Level Upper.

Well there was a difference actually; this time she had claimed to be someone else.

It was not that hard for the long haired girl to conceive of actually. Saten had seen this plot device before in manga and anime, where a protagonist had a hidden side to them that only surfaced in extreme circumstances. One that was stronger yet one where they had no control. Like Inuyasha's full-demon form or Ichigo's hollow transformation.

At least this "Kuro" didn't try to attack them and had full control over her actions, unlike the previous mentioned examples. But she certainly filled the other requirement, she was stronger.

Saten had seen Kuroko in fights before. Her fluid motions and powerful attacks were strong in their own right, but when Saten thought back to the other times she had seen Kuroko with her hair down, that battle against Ita and then that other one against the teleporte, each of them Kuroko had shown such resilience and strength.

And thinking back on those two incidences Saten remembered that they too had been fights where Kuroko had been protecting them despite suffering severe injuries or blinding pain herself.

But while that claim of protection might have justified her actions it certainly didn't justify her keeping it a secret from everybody.

"Some secrets are necessary," Misaka had said about two months ago "It's not always a matter of trust. Sometimes it's a matter of protection. Sometimes you have to keep secrets to protect yourself or the people you care about."

That was right... those people in those mangas always struggles with their other halves, always fought to keep them under control and hidden from the world. In real life it must be worse. If someone found out in real life and didn't keep it to themselves she could end up getting locked away in an insane asylum. After all, multiple personality disorder was a severe mental illness in real life, wasn't it? If anyone found out it could completely destroy Kuroko's life.

No wonder she had kept it a secret...

The flower headed girl on her shoulder rose her head up off of it and wiped her eyes and nose with a handkercheif.

"Feeling better?" Saten asked again.

"Yeah," Uiharu said hoarsely, "It was a lot to deal with but I'm better now."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Uiharu looked up at her then said, "I don't know what there is to talk about. It's not Kuroko's fault. She can't help who she is. We just have to accept her. Right?"

"Yeah..." Saten said, smiling and hugging the flower headed girl, "that's what friends do isn't it?"

* * *

August 18th, 8:36 AM

Academy City, A Certain Hospital

"...and that's how it is," Kuroko sighed, concluding her tale.

"So your friends found out about your condition and you are..." Heaven Canceller replied as he worked.

"Worried... afraid... What if they hate me? I doubt someone as kind and generous as you knows what it's like to be hated but I've been dealing with it all my life and I don't want my own friends to be included in the list of people who despise me. Especially because they have good reason to hate me after what Kuro did."

"Even someone like me knows what it's like to hate and be hated."

"Who hates you? Who do you hate?" Kuroko asked, always figuring the saintly, enigmatic doctor to be above such a petty feeling.

"Aleister Crowley has hated me every day of the past 60 years or so for reasons I, as a doctor, cannot disclose to you. As for me... there are two people I hate. One is someone I met a long time ago, someone who stole something very important from me. The other is someone I used to work with named Mike who would always get in the way of my work. Once I left that particular place of employment he promptly ran it into the ground destroying everything I had worked so hard for," The old doctor disclosed, then he shook his head, "But it matters not the experience I have had for you are forgetting something about this situation. You are all children. Children are resilient and do not hate easily. You are an important friend to them and I doubt they will sacrifice that friendship easily. So promise me you'll try to make up with them."

Kuroko nodded, "Yes Canceller-sensei. Thank you very much for your advice."

* * *

August 18th, 9:00 AM

Academy City, Judgment Branch 177 Headquarters

Konori's hand hovered above the doorknob of their headquarters. Perhaps it was her power or maybe her police woman's instinct that told her that Kuroko lay beyond but either way she was sure of it.

Uiharu stood behind her. When Konori had called her wondering if she would take another day off to deal with it she had refused. Her tone had been steady and resolute, as ready to deal with this as she herself was.

Taking another deep breath she turned the knob and opened the door. As expected Kuroko was there at her usual place, chair turned towards the door, hands curled into fists in her lap, hair up in it's usual pigtails, eyes once again soft and almost pleading contrasting with her drawn, stoic face.

There was silence, palpable silence, hanging heavy in the air for three seconds that lasted an eternity each before Kuroko opened her mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry," she said, strong emotions colouring her every word. She had written so many apology letters that this should have come easy to her, but it didn't. When it actually meant something she was always so bad at apologies, "yesterday was... I don't know... I just... I'm sorry... please don't hate me..."

Suddenly Kuroko was eveloped in a warm hug from both of her colleagues. "Of course we don't hate you Kuroko," Uiharu said.

"We could never hate you," Konori agreed, "We just want to get you help so that this doesn't happen again."

Kuroko could hear in their words and feel in their movements a twinge of fear still present, but she still took comfort in their words.

It would be a long road but they could work this out...

* * *

Between the Lines: 8

Aleister hung up the phone with a nod of his head. 'that's Laura Stuart out of the way,' he thought, 'my relations are good with her so she accepted it quite easily. The Russian Orthodox Church probably doesn't care enough to bother so that just leaves the biggest obstacle: The Pope.'

Unlike the Archbishop of Canterbury, it would be hard to persuade The Pope that the child was a perfectly acceptable defense force for Academy City despite being aligned to the science side.

The relations that Academy City shared with the Roman Catholic Church was gradually worsening and would worsen further with Touma's future actions. He could not risk The Pope taking preemptive action and sending people to attack Kuroko or cause him enough distress that God's Right Seat would need to intervene. While Touma could stand against them there was little chance that Kuroko could do the same.

Still, Aleister always had a plan...

The magician's eyes fell upon his associate, standing in the middle of the room looking bored.

"Well?" Crowley asked, continuing the conversation they had previously begun.

"Yeah I know it. Should be right around there." the associate gestured to a place on a map that was projected onto the wall, "The other key should be right around there. Buried a couple dozen feet underground though."

"That should be no issue for the knight. Is there anything else that you haven't mentioned. Any guardians?"

A grin, "there are probably spiders so she should watch out. Wouldn't want to get bitten..."

* * *

[1]: As may have been obvious by this point, one thing I am trying to do in this story is bring together all of kamachi's numerous unexplained magical systems into one single form, one underlying system to explain everything in the universe, including the things I added. With this I have managed to get quite a ways there but there will be many other things through this book and the third that will continue to expound upon my vision of his world.

* * *

Author's Note: Summer is coming up soon and once it's here my update schedule will be much better and much faster so for now I have to ask you to just bear with the slow updates, ok?

It was quite a hard chapter to write actually, trying to think of all their reactions and everything.


	19. Toaru Erā no Saiban

とあるエラーの裁判

Toaru Erā no Saiban

A Certain Trial of Errors

* * *

August 18th, 9:17 PM

Flore de Temps Apartment Building

"Hello there Kuroko," Lammington said as the young girl teleported into the apartment.

"Hey," the teleporter replied, sounding a little despondent, "There was a barrier around the apartment I hope you know."

"I do. It was a bit of curiosity I had. I was wondering if you would be able to pass through it with your teleportation. I am surprised you were able to. Normally my barriers can even stop teleportation: both magic and ESPer. It seems you use another method than others."

Kuroko shrugged, "I wasn't aware there was magical teleportation."

"Indeed, though it usually involves quite complex rituals. The exception to that is the magic of Houdini and Copperfield which tend to involve smaller scale teleportation that is far easier to utilize."

"I see... can we just begin now?" Kuroko asked, tired of this conversation, her mind elsewhere.

"While I appreciated your eagerness you have been requested by Aleister again so we won't have a lesson today. Oneeni is in her room, waiting for you."

The girl nodded and went to the clone's room. Knocking then entering.

"Hey Oneeni," she remarked as she entered. Then she looked the girl up and down, "New outfit I see."

Oneeni nodded enthusiastically and began signing to Kuroko (who had recently been uploaded with Japanese Sign Language to help break down this barrier and allow for faster communication), "Vyers and Lammington were grateful for the assistance I provided in France and so they took me shopping for new clothes. I got a lot and I was trying some of them on." Currently the clone had on a fedora, brown this time instead of black, with a short sleeved white shirt and a leather jacket on top of that and simple tan pants.

"I see. Well we have a mission so let's come on," she said touching the clone and teleporting the pair to The Windowless Builiding.

* * *

"It seems there is some resistance to the idea of Academy City having a magical agent. While some of this resistance has been easy enough to dispel one particular obstacle still remains. The Pope, leader of the largest magical organization in the world, the Roman Catholic Church ," Aleister informed Kuroko, "He has agreed to a meeting with you to determine his final stance on the matter so your mission today is to procure a gift to help encourage a positive review. What do you know about The Great Schism?"

"Nothing," Kuroko said simply. History was not her strong suit. She knew enough to get A's in her classes but it was hardly a major part of the curriculum.

"Several years ago there was a split in the Catholic Church that left it with two legitimate popes. This created several problems but the most severe of these problems is not listed in the history books. The most powerful artifact wielded by the pope are the Twin Keys of Peter. During the schism one of these keys was lost. Ever since the pope's power has been considerably weakened. You are to retrieve this key from a hidden underground site in Avignon and present it to the pope. It will surely convince him to accept you."

Kuroko nodded sedately.

"Is there something wrong child?" Aleister asked, noting the odd behavior.

"I'm worried... about Onee-sama... She's been acting strangely. Sneaking out in the middle of the night and not returning. I want to help her but I don't think she'd let me..."

"If it will ease your mind I can do something about it." Aleister offered.

"Could you?" the teleporter pleaded, happy that Aleister-sama, in his infinite kindness, was willing to help her.

"I will investigate and send an agent to assist her if necessary. She will be back to normal within a week," the magician comforted her.

"Thank you Aleister-sama," she smiled before leaving on her mission.

* * *

As she left Aleister's associate walked into the room. "Tell me again," they said, "Why you are allowing her to give The Pope greater power when we will soon end up in conflict with them."

"Because it will assure that he will not use that power when the time would come to use it. If we are the ones who grant him that power he will be extremely hesitant to utilize it, too suspicious that we have some way to counter it. Yet when Fiamma's betrayal comes and he inevitably targets Vatican City the power of the second key will grant him the power to protect it and keep both himself and the citizens alive, which is a vital part of the plan to defeat Fiamma and ensure that they ally themselves with us, who granted them the means that saved their city, once the war is over."

The associate nodded and then said, "So the other plan's going along pretty well. The teleporter responded just how you thought she would right?"

"Indeed, now she will be more receptive to outside help, especially coming from someone I have already established as my agent. When the time comes she will aid Touma rather than hinder him and from there Touma will be able to stop the project with a 96.77% success rate." An image was projected onto the wall showing the projected fight between the Touma and Accelerator that would later turn out to be a turn by turn copy of the actual events.

When it was finished the associate clapped, "That was great. Much better than that 'Magical Girl Kanamin' stuff that's on TV. You should go into directing." they smiled then glanced again at Aleister "What about the other 3.23%?"

"3.21% chance that he fails, that Accelerator is not arrogant enough to completely rely on his ability and therefore finds another way to defeat Touma. If that happens Kuroko will intervene. It will interfere with the future plans but there are backups for that. Unfortunately her behavior is a lot less predictable and the range for her reaction is far broader."

A number of screens flashed up around the room, each playing a different sequence of the same events. One had Kuroko teleporting her newest acquisition, the angelic axe, directly into Accelerator's head. Another had her using the Capacity Down to stun him. Another showed a more vicious approach where a plate teleported into his shoulder sent his arm shooting off like a rocket, propelled by a reflected jet of his own blood. Others were not so merciful.

The associate craned their head this way and that with a grin on their faces as they looked at the various screens. "Ouch," they winced as they watched the person's spine get ripped out in a burst of sheer brutality. "Do you really think she is capable of such a thing?"

"Easily," Aleister admitted, "her rage is triggered easily where #3 is involved and when she is in that rage there is no act of brutality or savagery I would put beyond her."

"I don't think I want to get her mad..." The associated noted, "By the way there was something I forgot to tell you about that place you sent her to."

"You forgot many things. The guardians, the traps, and the other things that are able to be found there," Aleister corrected.

"So you know. For a second I thought you'd be angry. Though it begs the question why you did not tell the girl."

"She can handle herself regardless and this way is better in a sense I neither encourage nor barred her from taking any action so she will be able to make her own judgments."

The associate gave Aleister a knowing glance.

"What were the other .02%?"

"0.01% error, something or someone else defeats Accelerator. And the other .01% is a possibility of failure… in that case," he nodded towards a screen. On the screen was a picture of the Earth swallowed in flames as the looming Sun in the far distance swelled and exploded."

"Isn't that the same video you show every time you explain what happens if part of your plan fails?"

"Yes. If my plan fails, that will be the fate of the world."

"You know you're not doing it to save the world though…"

"Regardless of whether it is the intended effect my plan will save the world from its fairly imminent destruction, whether by Fiamma's hands or by the hands of God Himself."

"Drama queen," the associate teased as he left the room, "We both know there's only one thing you care about and the world sure as hell isn't it."

* * *

When Kuroko first appeared in the dusty underground ruins of a once great building the first thing she noticed was the complete and utter darkness that seemed to suffocate her as well as the thick, heavy air that almost literally suffocated her.

This problem was easily solved by Kuro and Oneeni's glasses however. However the second thing could cause a few more problems.

Kuroko detached her mask, with its rebreather, and fastened it onto Oneeni. Kuroko had training in holding her breath and the clone would probably need it more. Kuroko shifted herself into oxygen saving mode, making no unnecessary action and utilizing every breath to the fullest.

With that settled she began to look around the room she was currently in. It was a fairly large square stone room with a layer of dust thick enough to pass for a carpet on every surface. Beneath the dust could be seen the shapes of several different objects. Ornaments and furnishings were scattered about the hall. Reaching over and brushing the dust off of one revealed a very well preserved urn of excellent craftsmanship.

Thinking briefly she stored it in one of her horns deciding that it belonged in a museum, not down here gathering dust.

She continued looking throughout the room. There seemed to be 4 doorways, one on each side of the square. The one behind Kuroko was blocked by a number of fallen rocks. The one to the right side had a rotten wooden door, the one to the left side had a more ornate and durable oaken door. The one straight ahead had the grandest door of all. It was this door that Kuroko obviously travelled down first.

She tried to pry the locked door open. It gave a groan of protest before giving way and collapsing onto the floor and allowing the pair into the adjacent room.

The room appeared to be a chapel with two rows up pews running down to the altar at the end. Empty golden candelabras lined the aisles beside the varnished wooden benches that still held their sheen after all these years. The altar was magnificent, large and marble with a pedestal in front upon which rested a large leather bound book while on either side was a statue of a person very different from the rest. To the far left of the room, in a little alcove, was another statue of Jesus Christ, this one towered twenty feet high and was set upon a large pedestal several feet across.

Kuroko didn't care but Oneeni seemed hypnotized by the place. She walked slowly down the aisle gazing here and there at the statues and images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary that were scattered across the room. She slowly approached the pedestal with the bible resting upon it and stared at it, examining its pages with careful, delicate movements.

Kuroko meanwhile looked around the room. She could not see any doors except the one she had come in from. It seemed that this was a dead end. She began signing to Oneeni, deciding that talking would consume too much air for her taste. Unfortunately Oneeni was too consumed with reading to look in her direction.

Kuroko rolled her eyes and decided to give her another minute while she had a closer look around. She went over to Oneeni, eyes glancing at the white stone wall on which was carved an intricate mural. She gazed up at this mural and saw a grand scene with heavenly clouds and a fiery abyss. In the top right an angel with a flaming sword cast down another figure with broken wings from a bank of clouds. In the bottom left the same figure with the broken wings sat chained to a throne in a hall of flames. In the center a massive tree loomed with an apple upon its branches, a snake coiled around it.

She was about to glance away when she noticed something. The snake's eyes were cut in sunken relief rather than the high relief of the rest. Looking closer she could make out the vaguest of lines protruding outward, carved into the picture as to look natural.

She poked her finger into the snake's eye to find that she could feel the edge of a door that she might be able to pry open if only she had something like a long pole.

She reached over to one of the two statues on either side of the altar and pried the staff the statue held from its stony grip. She inserted the end into the snake's eye and levered the door open with it, causing enough of a racket to get Oneeni's attention.

* * *

On the other side of the door was a long, wide hallway with another doorway at the end. The floor was made of large stone panels and the walls seemed to be lined with holes. It was an odd way to design a room in Kuroko's opinion but she supposed it was another time with a different sense of aesthetics, so she simply stepped into the room.

The moment her foot hit one of the stones on the floor it depressed and arrows began flying out of the holes in the wall. Kuroko didn't have any time to react and was bombarded with arrows. Luckily the few arrows that made it to her shattered easily against her armor. The mechanism had been the victim of time and couldn't shoot the arrows very far or fast and many had odd trajectories, added to that was the fact that the wood was mostly rotten and the tips mostly rusted.

Still it did teach her to be careful. She backed off into the previous room and used the staff of the statue to trigger the next panel. At this another volley of arrows shot from the wall like a swarm of bees seeking their prey that was no longer there until their numbers were ultimately exhausted.

Kuroko looked further down the hallway to the very last pressure plate. It would be a waste to go through these one by one so she decided to speed this up a little. She walked back to the aisle and picked up a candelabrum then walked back to the hallway and teleported the large golden object onto the final to pressure plates. The arrows fired and were exhausted in a timely manner and after that Kuroko simply teleported them to those two, remembering to keep an eye out for any other traps.

* * *

The room through the doorway promised not to disappoint. While the floor had no obvious signs of triggers like the last one there was a faint glowing from the wall of magical runes and circles that would undoubtedly trigger as soon as she stepped into the room, which was a wide hallway with a door at the end of it much like the last one.

Theoretically she could teleport past the hallway and the door but that carried the risk of miscalculation and miscalculation carried the risk of fragging herself and Oneeni, killing them both. That wasn't an option, so she looked around for another way to solve the problem.

She attempted a similar solution to before but it seemed that the spell was not triggered by inanimate objects so that didn't work. So she let Kuro take over since magic was her area of expertise anyway.

Though Kuro hardly knew any more that Shiro did. She was still a novice. The one thing she did know was that the spell was of the fire element and didn't seem too complex.

Kuro weighed the risks in her head and came to a decision. She focused her mana and formed a shield in each hand, large enough to cover her entire body as well as Oneeni's. Then the pair, squeezed close together, took a step into the room.

Immediately the circles glowed brightly and flames shot forth from the center of each one, turning the room into an oven of intense flames.

The shields easily weathered the heat and fire. Though they were still very poor for physical object deflection they could divert energy, like flames and lightning, very efficiently because they had no mass. Kuro walked forward a little, hoping the flames would end soon so they could see where they were going.

Then suddenly she realized that she couldn't breathe. The fire was consuming the room's already negligible oxygen supply very rapidly. Oneeni would be fine with the rebreather but Kuroko had already been straining herself.

She stopped in her tracks and took great swallows of air in an attempt to extract some sliver of remaining oxygen while the fire raged about her, swallowing, so gluttonously, any of that precious, life giving element that still lingered in the air.

She was soon driven to her knees as her vision swam in front of her. She could feel the spell start to falter but she immediately reinforced it, unwilling to let it fall and condemn them both to death while she had even a shred of life in her.

Oneeni crouched next to her, seeing what was wrong but unsure how to help.

Kuro's vision continued to blacken as her head fell to her chest. She looked sleepily at the floor and saw something. Carved in the stone of the floor was the word "Hell".

She shook her head, a great anger rising within her. The universe did not seem to understand that she was an atheist. She did not believe in God, she would never believe in God. And she would not let herself die in a place that called itself Hell.

She leafed through her collection of "Horn of Gabriel"'s and found the one she was looking for. She released several iterations of the spell, pouring several boulders onto the floor, boulders she had harvested from the cave in during that mission in Nepal. She did this until they were surrounded by a circle of them, holding off the flames. This allowed her to drop her spells without worrying about either of them getting hurt.

Then her head began swimming. That must have taken more out of Kuro that she had thought it would. She was so tired... she just needed... a little... rest... Her eyes began to droop and her body began to relax as she began slipping off to sleep.

Before she could do so she was jarred back to reality by a firm pair of lips upon hers. She wondered for a second what was going on but when a breath of air, oxygenated air, was blown into her mouth she quickly understood what was going on.

Oneeni blew into Kuro desperately before pulling back and jamming the rebreather onto her and shaking her in a desperate attempt to get her to wake up.

the clone was terrified. The dark, the confined space, the unfamiliar environment, the deadly flames that she knew were on the other side of the walls, and, eclipsing them all, the fear that Kuro-sama was suffocating because of her. Her mind floundered as she tried desperately the only thing she could think to do.

Luckily it seemed to work and Kuro was soon breathing heavily, glad to feel oxygen entering her lungs again. Once she had her fill she kissed the clone transferring the rebreather back over to her and control of the body back over to Shiro.

* * *

Shiro stood up and continued what she had done to wall them off, teleporting rocks to block the flames, this time closer to the walls so that they could actually get out of the room. When that was done she teleported them back to the hallway they had just been in, the one with the arrows, and walked through the now safe room as the stones teleported into the walls held the fires at bay. They finally reached the door. There was no visible method to open it but there was writing carved onto its face. Kuroko recognized most of it as Latin but there was also some Greek in there as well, neither of which she was able to read. The only reason she knew it was Greek at all was the presence of Greek letters in modern science and while Latin was very similar to English and Spanish she only understood a few words.

She looked over to Oneeni to consider how they could overcome this obstacle when she did not understand what the door actually said. When she looked over, however, she saw that the clone was scanning the door slowly, as if she could actually comprehend the scribbles. She tapped the clone's shoulders to get her attention and then began to sign at her. "Do you know what this says?"

She gave a nod and a quick explanation, "the bible that was given to me by my mentor was in this language and he had me learn it." She continued to sign to Kuroko as she read off what was written, "Only those with Saint Peter's blessing may enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those with Saint Peter's blessing may have dominion over the Kingdom of Earth for the keys which grant access and dominion are within his hands and only that key may open this door. Only with the key may you face the cleansing fires of the angel of the front. Only with the key may you escape the serpents embrace. Only with penitence will you pass the Breath of God, only with wisdom will you speak His name, and prove your worth in the jump from the lion's head."

Kuroko shook her head and signed back, "well the key is on that side so that's pretty useless. I'm just going to blow the door open."

While this course of action was, of course, possible she was using the term in a more figurative sense since an explosion would possibly cause a cave in. Instead she teleported back to the entrance and picked up the old rotten door, then she teleported back with it. She then teleported the old rotten door in place of the heavy stone one, shattering both of them like glass inside a concrete pillar.

Now with a clear path the pair entered another room.

* * *

This room was much larger than the previous ones, at least 100 feet wide, 40 feet long and thirty feet high. Statues lined the room in 5 rows on either side complete with limestone armor and weaponry. At the end of room was a massive statue of an angel holding aloft a steel sword, almost untouched by time, that rose thirteen feet to the ceiling.

As they walked into the room an odd feeling rose into the pit of Kuroko's stomach. Her instincts were telling her something was wrong here. She looked up to the giant statue at the end of the room and thought back to what was written on the door. "the cleansing fires of the angel of the front"... could it be...

Her question was answered swiftly enough when the giant steel sword was lit aflame and the angel's eyes began to glow as he swung the massive weapon downward.

Kuroko barely had time to do anything in response, pushing Oneeni down, away from the oncoming blade as she stepped aside and used her shield spell in an attempt to protect herself at least from the flames if not the sword.

But the moment the sword drew near the spell evaporate, overwhelmed by the power radiating from the sword. Her step to the side prevented the giant sword from cleaving her in two but the fire scorched her badly. She could feel her blood boiling in her arm as the skin melted even inside her insulated armor. There was little pain though the nerves were too damaged to feel anymore.

Despite the immensity of the heat it seemed to stop a few feet from the blade and another step to the side got Kuroko completely out of the area of effect.

But, as ever with Kuroko, it was out of the fire and into the frying pan as the numerous statues that lined the room began moving, shedding flakes of rock to reveal that, though their body's were made of stone, their armor and weaponry were quite real, keen edges glowing with a metallic sheen protected through the years by their stone coating.

Al at once the figures' gazes fixed on the pair of intruders. The closest ones wasted no time in drawing back their halberds and striking at them while the ones who were further away began slowly closing in with a speed one would not normally attribute to a statue. Closing in was unnecessary for the third and fourth rows of statues though as they were equipped with crossbows which they proceeded to fire at her and Oneeni.

Oneeni was quick on the draw however, managing to roll out of the way of the bolts and block the incoming halberd blades, one with her rapier and the other with its sheath.

Kuro took a more direct approach. She did not have to hold back against constructs like she did against normal people so she punched the closest statue hard enough to shatter the limestone head into several pieces, and that was just the first in a quick flash in utter brutality that, had there been blood and flesh instead of stone and magic, would have filled the room with a crimson spray.

Oneeni was similarly merciless, recognizing these as artificial life forms they did not follow the rules of lethality that everything else did and thus she was free to use lethal attacks all she wanted. She first disabled the halberds by cutting their wooden shafts with her sword, then began using her explosives to destroy the stony targets that her sword would be ineffective against. She was soon joined by Kuro in this endeavor who manifested and used her grenade launcher she had gotten a while back and used it to get rid of the statues with crossbows that, while not a big threat to the armored Kuro, might kill or injure the unarmored Oneeni.

It didn't take long for the pair to realize that they should have been done by this point. it took an even shorter amount of time after that to realize why they weren't. The statues were reassembling themselves as soon as they were broken. It seemed almost as if the stone they were composed of was actually water. When it fell the floor seemed to absorb it with a vague ripple of stone. When one of the statues was damaged the stone that composed it surged upward from the statue's base, moving and flowing as if it were filling a mold despite gravity working in the opposite direction. Any holes or cuts in the weapons and armor seemed to magically repair themselves as well.

Damaging the bases didn't seem to do anything to stem the flow. The only thing that seemed to delay it were large pieces of other statues getting onto the base and blocking it. But that only worked until the pieces were knocked out of the way by other statues moving in to attack. Any other objects placed in the way failed to stop the flow at all.

Still they would need a much bigger statue to be able to block all of the bases, or at least block enough of them to be granted enough time to make an escape.

How lucky it was that there was a fifteen foot tall statue right there... She aimed the grenade launcher at its knee and, using the last grenade she had, blew it apart, sending the massive angel crashing to the ground on top of the other statues and their bases, finally granting the pair enough time to breath.

At least that's what they thought until Kuroko received twenty crossbow bolts to the back and immediately recalled that the other half of the room was full of statues as well that had been blocked from view and combat by the Michaels giant flaming blade which now accompanied him on the floor nearby, still in one piece unlike the wielder.

Kuroko was out of grenades and out of breath. She couldn't fight much more let alone against so many opponents. She also could not transform back to Shiro right now as the opening such an action would grant would be far too large. She needed to do something and fast.

She leafed through the list of other weapons she had. The battleaxe wouldn't be good here, nor would the tonfa. Both of those were better against people than stone. She had several guns but that would do no more than cause a few flakes.

She needed something to defeat all of them in a single stroke. She glanced briefly at Oneeni as if asking for ideas when suddenly she was struck by one.

For the second time in as many minutes she pushed Oneeni down to the ground as she reached over to the blazing inferno that was the angel's massive sword. Again her skin charred and her blood boiled as she grasped the firey hilt despite the immense pain. She wrenched it off the ground with an astounding amount of strength and swept the blade that was almost three times her body height across the room in a mighty arc, shattering the stone bodies of the statues. This time they stayed shattered as well.

* * *

"_Oneeni get over here!"_ Kuro yelled as soon as she was done. There was no time for politeness at the moment a fact that the clone understood as she hurried over. _"take off my helmet and kiss me. This sword has welded itself to my armor and I can't let it go."_

As before there was no pain or feeling at all but she could sense her arm practically melting as she held the sword. It was just barely light enough to teleport and that was pretty much the only way to loose her grasp on it.

A quick kiss, a teleport, and a transition back to Kuro to let her arms heal followed shortly after that. She laid back on the floor amongst the rubble. Oneeni handed off the rebreather as she knelt over the girl protectively.

"_What were those things?" _Kuro wondered out loud.

Oneeni shrugged as another voice spoke up to answer instead, **"They were golems. Typically weapons of Judaism but the Catholics were not unknown to dabble in artificle life either. But that is not too interesting or unusual. What is far more interesting is the sword. If I had to guess I would say that it is an idol theory interpretation of the Angel Michael's sword which he used to cast down Satan. From what happened to you I would guess that it is unable to be blocked by defensive magic. But the more interesting part of it was how it destroyed the golems..."**

"_What are golems?"_ Kuro asked, earning another confused shrug from Oneeni and another lecture from Prometheus.

"**Man's attempt at creating man. It was a failure of course as they stupidly tried to build them out of clay instead of things which humans are actually built out of like complex amino acids and sugars and everything else. All they end up doing is creating sad excuses for angel's that have so little power that they have to have a physical form instead of a form of pure energy like most do."**

"_Golems are angels?"_

"**In a manner of speaking yes. But they are very bad ones, as I said. That's probably why the sword destroyed them. It was meant to be able to kill angels with faulty programming. That is why it was used to fight Satan, who was exactly that, a faulty program."**

"_I'm an atheist," _The girl insisted again hoping that maybe the universe would eventually catch on.

Oneeni patted her on the head and signed, "That's okay... nobody's perfect..."

Kuro sighed and waited a while longer as Oneeni continued patting her head. When she was fully healed she got up again, a little unsteady but none the worse for wear overall except the massive drain on her energy. She would need to try and avoid using magic for the rest of the mission.

She transferred control back to Shiro and the teleporter and the clone moved into the next chamber, stepping over the rubble of the countless statues.

* * *

When she reached the next door and pulled it open she saw a smallish circular room. The walls seemed segmented in coils, some of which seemed to overlap. A more intense inspection revealed a pattern of scales along the skin as if it the room had been constructed from the body of a massive stone serpent.

'The snakes embrace,' she recalled from the inscription on the door, 'ok... i am not stupid enough to fall for this one.'

she did not step into the room at all, knowing from common sense that it would close in on her as soon as she did. Instead she sat at the doorframe wondering how to get past the room without stepping in or risking teleporting herself through a wall.

She decided to go with what she called "the shatter method". It wasn't terribly convenient but she couldn't think of any other way to get past. She had used this method once before to explore her secret place under Academy city. It involved using a series of glass tubes, small enough to maintain the integrity of the structure, teleported into the wall until one eventually reached the end of it and the shattering glass could be heard from the other end. From there a camera could be teleported inside to determine a suitable spot for herself to teleport in.

As expected it worked quite handily and she managed to get into the next chamber without a fuss.

* * *

This next room was only slightly wider than a hallway but quite long. Its floors and walls had no special markings as far as she could see. the only thing there was was a thin line running along the ceiling. As they walked through the chamber there was an odd gust of wind that sent shivers up Kuroko's spine despite the warmth of the breeze. Moving completely on instinct, which she had learned to trust in this place, she materialized the shield she had recently acquired, Bastion, in her arm and held it up in front of her, just in time to stop a massive blade, hanging from a jointed strut set into the line of the ceiling, from slicing her in two.

The force of the blade pushed against her but somehow it did not make her budge an inch, as if some force, or lack thereof, was keeping her rooted.

Eventually the massive blade just ran out of energy and kind of just stopped it's motion.

Kuroko advanced forward, pushing the blade in front of her to prevent another blade from swinging down.

She reached the end of the chamber without incident and opened the next door, wondering all the while how "penitence" could have saved her from that.

* * *

The next room was a similar layout, long and narrow with smooth sides and a smooth ceiling. The biggest difference was the floor which was set up in a series of large cobblestones with english letters carved into them. Each of the 24 tiles -one for each letter except j and u, neither of which existed until the 1600's, far after the great schism in the 1400's[1]- was quite large, enough to support at least two people comfortably.

'Something about the name of God... right... well then.' she looked over the letters and sighted the "G".. She stepped on it only for it to crack and break under her weight almost sending her, if not for her well trained reflexes which allowed her to grasp the edge before she fell, to the bottom of a steep drop. At the bottom she could see a raging inferno of flames. 'More hell imagery,' she rolled her eyes as Oneeni helped pull her up.

She grabbed the clone's arm and simply teleported them to the opposite end, figuring it wasn't worth it to try and guess and risk falling for real.

* * *

Now they stood in the penultimate room, though it wasn't much of a room. There was a slight ledge on both ends of it with a sheer drop beneath.

She did notice something odd though. There was a slight visual disparity when she moved her head and looked again at the supposed gap. She stepped to the side and saw that the sight became more distorted, as if the chasm was painted onto a floor. Such a technique would only work from a single angle and position and would look weird from any others.

Still she saw no need to risk it either way and simply teleported past onto the other platform. Kind of anticlimactic considering everything else that had gone on but she wasn't complaining.

She finally walked into the last room, the one she had been looking for. Immediately in front of her was a small table where a cup was placed. It was a shoddy looking cup that seemed to have no significance whatsoever.

So Kuroko ignored it and looked for what she had actually come here for.

She soon found the object of her hunt. a large silver key that matched the description she had been given.

She looked around at the other treasures in the room and internally repeated her earlier decisions. 'these things really belong in a museum...'

* * *

August 18th, 4:23 PM (local time)

Apostolic Palace

"So you are this "Black Knight" that I have been hearing about."

"Indeed Your Holiness. I am the Black Knight of Academy City. It is an honor to meet you. I have heard from my master that you have reservations about my existence as a magical force in a scientific faction but my master would like to assure you that he does not intend to use me to meddle in the affairs of the magical world without express permission. I am simply a defensive force Your Holiness."

"Be that as it may I do not believe Academy City needs any such force. It is a potential threat to the entire magic side."

"I am no threat. I exist to aid the people of the world and protect from injustice. I am not a soldier but a guardian. But if you still have reservations I can accept that. But please, at least accept a few tokens of gratitude for the honor of this audience," she said as she summoned the items she had gathered from the palace. "I believe these once belonged to Your Holiness some 7 centuries ago. I have recovered them for you. More so I believe this is yours as well," she called the key to her hand, "It is a token of what I hope is a long and prosperous relationship between Your Holiness and myself."

The pope had been, until this point, completely stoic and in control. But the sudden appearance of so many holy relics that had been lost during the Great Schism was a complete shock. More than that was the fact that someone who was potentially a great enemy to them had given him one of the most powerful artifacts of the papacy, the Silver Key of Saint Peter. his eyes fixed upon the helmeted head of the person in front of him. "Who exactly are you."

"I am but a humble pawn Your Holiness... as are we all. I hope to see you again," she said, just barely keeping the smugness out of her voice as she disappeared.

* * *

Between the Lines: 9

A man dressed in the garments of a cardinal walked through the shadows. Moving away from the Apostolic Palace and the meeting happening there towards a nearby got there and knocked upon the door.

"Enter," was the reply.

He did so hesitantly and bowed to the room's occupants, "Sir Fiamma, Sir Terra, Sir Acqua, Ma'am Vento," he addressed, "the knight has arrived, he is currently talking to the Pope at the Palace."

Fiamma sighed and tapped his temple, "I wonder why you seem to be taking us for fools cardinal. Do you really think something like that could escape our notice? That we could not sense the presence of this Black Knight?"

"No sir.. I am not doubting you at all, I am simply informing you because you asked me to tell you when the knight arrived."

"Then what're you doing standing around here asswipe," Vento snapped at him, "Why aren't you keeping a lookout for the knight huh? Fiamma wants to kill the bastard before he causes any problems and your fucking loafing isn't gonna help him."

"B-but I did... I... I am," the cardinal said, terribly confused.

"Didn't you listen to what Fiamma told you?" Acqua remarked, "we can easily feel the presence of anyone in the city and there is no one in that palace but the Pope at the moment."

"B-B-But..."

"You are to do your job. Do not try to lie to us just to be rid of your duty or else you might face an unpleasant fate," Terra threatened.

"Perhaps he is disguising his presence using magic?" the cardinal posited.

"Our abilities are divine, given to us by God's angels. No magic can blind us or fool our abilities. The only way we would fail to detect something is if that thing did not exist and if you are seeing things that do not exist perhaps we need to find another cardinal to support."

"No please, i'm sorry," the cardinal hastily said, "I must have been seeing things. I promise it won't happen again." He quickly left the room.

A silence hung in the air for a short while before Fiamma spoke up, "Acqua?"

"I'm already on it," he said as he finished up his magical circle and conjured an image of the Apostolic Palace. The image showed two people, the pope and a figure in pure black armor.

"It is as we thought then," Fiamma said looking at the image.

"Yep... the bastard was lying," Vento remarked, "there ain't nobody there but the pope."

The other three nodded, seemingly blind to the black armored person that stood there in plain sight.

In the distance was a slight chuckle and the subtle flap of wings.

* * *

[1]: The temple of the sun in Indian Jones the Last Crusade was built in 1000 AD... for the record.


	20. Toaru Ryōtan no Dakiawase

とある両端の抱き合わせ

Toaru Ryōtan no Dakiawase

A Certain Tying of Ends

* * *

August 19th, 9:55 PM

[Classified Location]

"With 7 For and 5 Against the motion passes. We are now closing topic 3. Are there any points or motions on the floor?"  
Itora Honogun sat on a large, comfortable chair at a large, comfortable table in a large, uncomfortable room. The reason the room was uncomfortable most likely had something to do with the number of politicians which currently inhabited it. Being in a room with a bunch of politicians was directly comparable to being in a barrel with a bunch of eels. Even a barrel full of electric eels was preferable and electric eels were possibly the most unpleasant of all the types eels.

It was the normal biweekly meeting of the Board of Directors and this one was promising to be both a long and complicated one. There were many things to deal with considering all of Aleister's recent movements.

It just showed the arrogance of these people. The moment they were shown that their power was not absolute, that there was someone above them, they completely floundered and didn't know what to do.

Itora was the youngest member of the board by at least a decade and had been on it for the shortest amount of time as well, so perhaps that was why he was not quite yet touched by that same sort of arrogance that the others had. It was an incredible disadvantage, confidence, and by lacking it Itora had managed to pull the wool over many of the directors eyes several times before.

It was also what allowed him to detect when people were trying to trick him as he suspected was happening right now. There were strange things happening. Several companies had been attacked recently in what seemed to be related incidents, but nobody had requested any sort of investigation, in fact Anti-Skill had been ordered not to investigate. Then there was the movement of Team ITEM that had happened yesterday for unknown purposes.

The 7 teams were effectively foot soldiers for the members of the Board which had enough power and funds to gather them as well as the motivation to maintain them. They were BLOCK, SCHOOL, ITEM, MASK, ATOM, RING, and SHADOW. Only Oyafune Monoka, Yakumi Hisako, Shiokishi, Marshall, and himself did not have a team to command.

Though that would soon change when he finally gathered the people necessary to form his own team, GROUP: the #1 ESPer, Accelerator, The teleporter that could rival the scourge Awaki, and the strange Tsuchimikado Motoharu that had his fingers in so many pies that he would be an invaluable agent, and finally... the last member who at this point was undecided. It would be awhile before he could gather the other three together anyway so he had time to choose. After that it was all a matter of ensuring their loyalty and protecting their vulnerabilities in one fell swoop by posting people to "threaten" their close relations while actually keeping them safe so no one else could exploit them to use against him.

Once he had a team he would be in a position of far more power, especially with such a powerful group of people assembled. With his crime family for the smaller things and GROUP for the more dangerous contracts, he would be easily the most powerful of any of these people. Especially if he could control The Scourge as well, but he was relatively sure of his ability to do so. She was a natural pawn, so easy to manipulate and so cooperative with demands. Easy to conceal things from as well. Granted she wasn't as easy to deploy as a team which itself was not worth deploying for anything other than something major in the first place.

Which made the fact that Team ITEM had been deployed quite interesting enough, and considering that teams were a trump card played when a victory was necessary it made the situation truly unusual given the fact that they were defeated. Since the team included the fourth level five it was quite a narrow range of people who could do such a thing. Any of the level fives had a chance as well as, probably, the scourge and a few other level fours such as Awaki or a few others with underestimated power. however those level fours were carefully watched and none of them had been observed anywhere nearby. The Scourge would have had them in custody. #1 was still engaged in some secret experiment or other for the shift, #2 busy with another contract at the time, #5 had fallen off the map but evidence pointed towards her being housed in a rehabilitation facility, #6 was an agent of Aleister's with no reason to interfere, and #7, the loose cannon, was at a restaurant doing one of those "eat a ridiculous amount of food in this amount of time and its free!" sort of things. This left #3, Misaka Mikoto, the Railgun. She was a loose cannon as well, in a far more literal sense yet to a lesser degree than #7, so it was certainly possible. But she was far more rational so there must be a reason.

Itora snatched the paper airplane a moment before it collided with the side of his head. he spared a glance in the direction it came from to see the not unexpected sight of Marshall with a disappointed frown at the lack of collision. Given how important a figure he was in the city it was inevitable that he would be on the Board of Directors. Unfortunately he seemed to take very few things seriously and, as a puppet of Aleister, had no allegiances with any other members of the Board. During meetings he would frequently play little games and all but ignore what was going on, voting on things seemingly at random and at times making things very difficult on other people as his vote in one way or another put things in deadlock for long periods of times.

There had been 87 assassination attempts on him as far as Itora knew but each of them failed and failed miserably. He was, after all, surrounded by Anti-Skill at all times (he did not seem to have a home outside the office) and managed to foil any more roundabout attempt on his life by displaying a cunning that one would not attribute to someone who acted more like a jester than a general.

Itora was about to crumple up the paper airplane when he saw that it was covered in doodles of stick figures fighting each other. It took Itora a second to notice that some bits were more heavily bolded than others. When put together they seemed to form kanji, letters, and symbols which spelled out DB#234560 Password:ueyachide31329 Open Pandora's Box if you want but try to shut it before hope escapes.

Itora frowned in confusion but committed the message to memory before crumpling up the paper airplane that had been used to deliver it and glancing again towards Marshall who now had folded a paper football who he seemed to be aiming at one of the others as the next topic was brought to the table.

* * *

After that the meeting went on and on until finally ending much later on that night. Marshall was, as always, the quickest to leave before the rest shuffled out as well.

Once Itora was in the car he accessed the data banks and input the number that had been on the paper. It asked for a password despite his S class security ranking. He put in the given password and was granted access. He poured through the tables and lists that were shown and quickly fit it to the knowledge he already had.

It had something to do with the level 6 shift. A group of over a hundred companies that had just recently joined in support of the effort as well as lists of personnel involved with the project. It didn't reveal what was going on however. That knowledge seemed, time and again, to elude Itora, as if it was purposely being kept away. A possibility that was quite likely in this city.

He soon arrived back home and got out of the car, his two bodyguards walking beside him when a voice suddenly sounded from behind, "so whatcha gonna do?"

The trio spun around, the bodyguards lowering their guns at the origin of the voice which turned out to be Marshall who was standing there with a grin, his arms crossed and two gun magazines in one hand while the other had a handgun which seemed big enough to take down an elephant. a quick glance revealed the former to be magazines from the bodyguards' guns which were now effectively useless.

Itora was now at the mercy of Marshall, a fact which hardly worried him all things considered. His voice held no hint of worry or fear or concern as he said, "What do you expect me to do with it?"

"Something, which is more than I can say for anyone else. If you want #1 you'll need to stop the shift after all." Marshall said.

"Why would I want #1?" Itora asked, playing dumb.

"Care to know why I don't take anything seriously Itora? It's because I know so much that it's pointless to play the game. It's like playing a scripted game of chess. When you know everyone's moves things get so boring so quickly, so you make up little games to play along the way so that the script isn't broken but you still have fun. This is one of my games."

"And what if I don't want to play?"

"You do," Marshall said with such conviction in his voice that the possibility of being wrong seemed an impossible one to grasp, "after all, you want #1 and if you play along nicely enough and produce entertaining results then I'll even do you a favor and help you control #1."

"And how would you do that?" Itora asked, his curiosity piqued at this. It had been the one difficult part of getting such a powerful and ruthless person to bow to his will, he had nothing to hold against him. While he didn't trust Marshall it was worth at least hearing him out.

Unfortunately he chose that moment to get less talkative, "Don't worry, it'll be sorted out. You just do your part." He said as he walked off.

A moment of silence hung in the air when the footsteps disappeared into the darkness of the night. Then the moment was shattered by one of Itora's bodyguards saying, "sir? What do you plan to do sir?"

He considered for a second, "i'll use some expendables. I can't risk any of my good pieces falling to a trap." he waved off.

"Which expendables?"

Itora grinned... he had the perfect answer.

* * *

August 20th, 11:17AM

Skill Out Headquarters

"Looks like the cash cards have pretty much dried up," Shiage said with a sigh as he held the last envelope his people had collected.

"It was too good, too lucky to last I suppose," Hattori observed.

"We got enough to sustain ourselves for a little while but it won't last long. We don't have many of the supplies, suppliers, or contacts that we once had and without money we can't get the supplies and equipment we need to protect ourselves," Ritoku looked at his papers as he said this. He was a surprisingly bright person for his appearances and could quite easily handle the administration of this organization, if only he had things like funds to handle.

It was at that moment a sound like a buzz or a woosh sounded. The reflexes of the people in the room took over, Hattori drawing his sword and the others their guns. However the reflexes of the person who just appeared were nothing to be scoffed at either. the sword was caught mid motion while Shiage's gun was grabbed and pointed away and Ritoku's was kicked out of his grip. A second later and the others weapons were wrenched from their hands as well. But at this point they saw and identified the intruder as the little teleporter girl meaning that fighting was probably unnecessary anyway, though the aura of negative emotion around her meant that a peaceful meeting was not a certainty.

"I saw some Skillout members near one of the attacked research buildings the other day, are you to blame for them?" She asked getting right down to business as she tossed the sword and gun in front of her, taking a step back so that all three of them were within her field of vision.

"No, the men were simply scavenging. Considering how many attacks there have been cleanup has been quite slow and those that are cleaned are usually rush jobs meaning there are bits and pieces of technology there which are quick valuable if sold to the right person," Ritoku answered, "we have no reason to attack those buildings and we don't have the resources to waste attacking buildings we don't need destroyed."  
"I can't see why any building would need to be destroyed," she said somewhat hypocritically.

"I could list numerous examples which I am sure even you would agree with but I do not have the time at the moment."

"Nor do I. While I am here however I might as well check in."

"Recently we haven't done much. Mostly scavenging, scrounging for cash cards and among the debris of those buildings. Our funds have been knocked pretty low and I can't risk the few men we have doing anything illegal enough to warrant being arrested, so we have been keeping out of trouble."

"Good to he-" Kuroko began but she was cut off by a transmission that came over a walkie-talkie on Ritoku's desk.

"Umm... Boss. Some ESPer girl is out here saying she has a letter for you from her boss. What should I do?"

"Ask her who her boss is and what the letter says."

A pause followed before the response, "Some guy named Itora Hitoyashu, and she says she doesn't know what it says because she doesn't open letters addressed to other people."

"Get the letter from her and bring it here," he said.

Another pause, "she won't give it up, she says it goes to you not us. We can't seem to take it either, damn girl's too slippery."

"Just let her in then," he said with a sigh. His men would have warned him if she seemed a threat and even if she was a threat they outnumbered her. Ritoku glanced up again and saw that the teleporter was gone and he wasn't sure whether that made him feel more or less secure.

It was only Ritoku's extensive battle experience with ESPers, especially one as seemingly nonthreatening as that teleporter, that made him keep his sense of caution when the door opened and the girl actually came into the room. She was tiny with long blond hair and skinny legs and arms that would probably have difficulty lifting more than a couple of pounds. She moved with an odd swaying motion as if she was constantly skating on ice.

"Hello," she said cheerfully, "you're the leader of Skill Out right? I have a message for you." She said handing over a letter. "have a nice day." she said and skated off.

Ritoku shook his head at the odd day he'd been having and opened the letter to read it. There was a long list of buildings as well as several people a note and several bills of significant denominations. The note simply read, "Cause trouble for the people and places on the list and more money will follow. The method is at your discretion."

As Ritoku read it he realized that this could be the answer to their prayers. Itora Hitoyashu was a major black marketer and a useful contact to have in that world. The only problem was...

"Isn't that guy Itora the head of the ESPer union or some shit... why is he approaching us with this. I think it's a trap," Shiage said suspicious of such a serendipitous occurrence.

"For once it seems that common sense has not completely left you, it does indeed seem like a trap to me," Hattori said agreeing with the highest degree of civility that the vitriolic pair could muster for each other.

"You're both probably right but it could be just what we need. And considering that the ESPers in the union are the adults and the ones we cause trouble for are the arrogant teenagers I doubt he has a vendetta against us. We should start with some simple harassment and work our way up if all goes well. The only issue is how to control the men so they don't do too much yet actually do something."

"The 54 men that you first took over with will follow your orders to the letter without question," Hattori said, knowing that their loyalty was much higher than the average Skill Out member which was already considerable. Ritoku had a natural leadership ability matched with an impressive amount of charisma for a delinquent that helped in garnering loyalty in his subordinates.

"The rest will probably follow their lead if we put them in groups. We don't have many people outside of those 54 so we can't risk devoting too much time to this endeavor. Either we need to disregard it or take the quick route and demolish these places, but that holds the obvious problem. Another scourging at this point would completely ruin us and then who would protect those level zeroes."

"no need to worry about that," the teleporter's voice rang again from their midst, heralded by only a short buzz like before, "You were right... some buildings do deserve to fall." Her hands were clenched into fists, "you have nothing to fear from me, I'll be a little busy myself. I only have 2 conditions. One, no murders. If you need to bring down a building make sure it is unoccupied first but try to do it without destroying anything. Second, only go after the buildings. The people are mine..." She spoke through almost gritted teeth before disappearing again.

Silence for a second before Shiage spoke, "Damn that girl gives me the fucking creeps... Maybe those tales of her being a demon are true."

The others did not respond or speak, only wondering what had stoked such a fire in the scourge's eyes.

* * *

The sound of Itora's name and Birdy's presence was surprising to Kuroko, not that she would let it show and betray her association with them. She became curious what Itora's business was but knew that she couldn't risk being seen here by Birdy so planted another bug in the office, since the last one she had put there had been destroyed, and teleported up to the roof, overlooking the entrance so she could be sure Birdy would be safe.

She monitored Birdy as she went through the building using her glasses to ensure her presence was not known. She seemed to have no trouble and left without a scratch so Kuroko then turned her attention to the room with the others to read this letter that the delivery girl had dropped off.

She could not see the entirety of the list and the significance of them was completely lost on her. She wondered for a moment what to do then remembered that she had several people who knew everything at her fingertips. Since it was for personal reasons she decided to contact Riko, sending a picture of the list to him with a request for information about what linked them.

* * *

In his office Riko sat with an annoyed expression on his face as he looked to the ceiling then to his computer screen. Then he frowned.

Things had been different once upon a time, he had been different. 2 years ago he had just been another person, albeit smarter than most and possessed of a sharpness of mind that let him excel in so many things. One of those things was listening and gathering information. It was and would always be his favorite pass-time. But back then it had been different. Back then he only ever collected information for his own sake, for his own advantage. he wanted to know more than anyone else and with his ability it was an easy enough ambition. Then one day he encountered a piece of information by accident that changed all of that.

The information was about a secret project done by a group of companies centered around the goal of shifting the number one level five ESPer to the theoretical level 6 using 20,000 clones of the number three level five.

The very concept was so horrendous to him that he could not bear to keep it to himself and immediately went and told the authorities.

And yet despite that action nothing happened. It was then that he understood that they must be in on it too. It was then that he understood that Academy City was a city where conspiracy theories come true. There was no justice here.

So he sat there with a piece of information that he could not keep and yet could not share. If he tried to tell someone else they would know immediately who had done it. It would be like popping a balloon in the middle of a crowded room, everyone's eyes would suddenly be on him. He couldn't win.

So if he couldn't win... why not aim for a stalemate? Nobody would win and nobody would lose. He couldn't pop the balloon but he could let the air out without being noticed if it was only a slow leak.

That was the eleventh legend on his Urban Legend site. The first ten were simply to ensure that it did not appear that the site was started solely to get that one story out.

After that he had come to the realization that this was how it was supposed to be. Information was there to be shared. That was why he had started his business, to ensure that information would be available to all... or at least those with enough money to ensure that it was a business he was running rather than a charity.

Over the next two years he had kept close tabs on the experiments. With the rumor mills grinding like they were, the people who were experimenting had a much harder time keeping the experiments a secret, creating a number of delays. Especially when several companies they had partnered with over the years had information leaks that lead to bankruptcy or them pulling out of the project.

But now, with a couple slip ups that had lead to the Railgun herself hunting these people down the project began to descend into the final act. Unfortunately not everyone saw the ending coming and they had managed to get an immense amount of support for the project. He couldn't see how the Railgun could destroy them all without getting caught and he knew he couldn't do anything about it.

Then his phone started to vibrate. It was a text from the scourge asking him to tell her if these companies were connected followed by a picture of the list of companies she was talking about.

It took about a millisecond for him to connect the dots and arrive at his destination. He smiled broadly as the realization dawned on him that the teleporter was the perfect person for this job. Capable of undetectable sabotage on a grand scale, highly motivated given the nature of the experiments, and with seemingly enough significance to render her immune to any sort of consequence from those who took such care to keep these things secret.

Immediately he began to type a return text when he felt the unfortunately familiar feeling of a metal tube being pressed to the back of his head.

"Marshall, a pleasure to meet with you again... can I offer you a cup of tea?" It was only then that Riko realized that while Kuroko might not receive any consequence he was another matter. He had long since been amazed at how long he had survived given his occupation. he knew that his luck could not continue forever.

"No, what you can do is amend that little text you're about to send."

Riko sighed, "I should have known that you were behind this. What do you want me to tell her then hmm? That they're unconnected o do you want me to make something up," he said stalling for time until he thought of a way to become immune to shots to the head only to come up, so surprisingly, with nothing.

"No... She's the best one to take down that detestable project, but it must be done right. Don't tell her exactly what they're doing. Tell her that they're studying cloning but not that they've been successful. And don't tell her who the clones are of."

"Huh?" Riko asked, so surprised at hearing this that he almost dropped his phone, "why?" was all he could ask.

"Think about it. If she learned that the person she loves and idolizes was cloned and her clones were treated in such a manner how would she react? She would leave a trail of blood and fire in her rage, even more so than the Railgun. And after everything was consumed in the flames she herself would succumb to them. While I don't particularly care about that she finds her very important and she'd probably be sad if she died, so I might as well keep her alive."

The number of pronouns in that sentence was slightly confusing, most likely deliberately. But this was the chance he was looking for. Marshall was not preventing him from sending the text after all, just making sure that he obscured some facts for the teleporter's own protection. So he quickly typed the message out and sent it. Then turned to face the police chief again only to see him gone. Riko sighed and got back to work, confused but strangely satisfied at the same time.

* * *

Kuroko looked at the text she received in reply and her eyes widened.

"All of those companies are working on the same project, some sort of attempt at cloning from what I can tell," the text read.

Her mind predictably drifted to the 10,000 clones of Misaka and among them Oneeni. They had been created for the sole purpose of being taken advantage of and sent to into battle. Not once did anyone but Aleister and herself seemed to regard them as anything other than tools or the result of a science was horrified just how easily people disregarded life just because it was created in a tube. When Kuroko had hers and Misaka's children sometime in the future using parthenogenesis, would those children suffer similar stigma just because she was a product of science, of an "unnatural" birth?

Oneeni had suffered so much pain being a clone. It was evident at how much she appreciated everything that made her unique. It was evident in the way she hated her own reflection. It was evident in just how lost the other girl always seemed to be. Oneeni's sense of identity was always hijacked by this singular status of "clone". She was Misaka and yet not Misaka, and to so many people that's all she would ever be.

Kuroko could not allow more people to suffer that crisis, that stigma. She could not allow more people to come into being for the single purpose of being used and discarded when they were no longer needed.

_No one should have to go through that. _Even Kuro agreed that this was abhorrent. or once she was possibly more in support of a dangerous mission than Kuroko herself.

She teleported back down into the room with the three others and told them that she would not interfere with their efforts to destroy or hinder these buildings. She would go after these people who lacked conscience to such a degree to not only allow but encourage and aid such a thing.

She contacted Marshall next, telling him that she would need a place to drop off several criminals for the crime of violating both human rights laws and the international treaties and conventions that barred cloning. Then she set off for her first destination.

* * *

Marshall smiled as the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. When he had delegated this cleanup duty to Itora he had honestly not expected the teleporter to involve herself in this. The fact that she had was quite entertaining. He decided to have a special medal made just for her for helping to entertain him even more than this was already. He pondered for a minute whether the medal should be for "Greatest Violation to the Right of Habeus Corpus" or "Highest Number of Illegal Arrests" before settling on the far more scathing "Biggest Corruption of Power". However before he contacted his medal makers he remembered that he's probably have to check in with Aleister about this.

"tlprtr meddlin, r u k w/ dis?" He typed out and sent. Soon the phone rang and he answered, "helloooo..." he said with a smirk.

"I do not care to feed encoded messages through Oak every time you contact me," Aleister said, sounding calm despite irate words.

Marshall held the phone away from him as he laughed at the super-genius who was always baffled by a form of communication mastered by even the dumbest teenage girls. He over thought everything so he had immense difficulty with text-speak. He would sooner think that it was a code than acronyms and word shortening. When he held the phone again to his ear he was as stoic and respectful as ever. "Apologies Aleister-sama, I merely wish to keep these correspondences secure. What I meant to inform you of was the fact that the teleporter, Kuroko, has been made aware of the people and places that are currently backing the shift experiment. She has currently gone to arrest the people."

"I believe I assigned you to this task specifically to prevent that from happening. If she learns what is going on there may be a lot of problems."

"Apologies again but I have ensured that the information she gathered was enough that she would not investigate further but not enough that she is aware of what is going on."

"Make sure it stays that way then,"

"Of course sir," Marshall answered sounding very respectful despite holding up his two fingers on the other end of the phone.

"You know," Said Aleister's associate from inside Aleister's room in the windowless building, "she will find out eventually. And when that day comes I wonder how angry and disappointed she'll be in you. What will you do then hmm? Can you stand the ribbon haired girl's disappointment, her resentment?"

"Can you stand hers? Can you stand his?" Aleister suddenly asked, taking the associate aback.

"Hmmm," they hummed, playing dumb, "who are you talking about?"

Aleister said nothing further. He closed his eyes and went into his center, ignoring the associate entirely. This simply made them angry and eventually they huffed out of the room with a single thought in their head. 'She wouldn't be disappointed in me... would she? I was never disappointed in him, so why would she be disappointed in me when I'm trying my best.'

For the first time in a while the associate left with their jaw intact, for the first time ever they wished they weren't.

* * *

It was a simple matter to arrest the people. Locating them was done by Riko who was of course being paid for each person (to his credit this was only because Kuroko might get suspicious otherwise and he did not want her suspicion to hinder the dissimilation of the project) so all she needed to do was teleport behind them and teleport them to a remote location to handcuff them, then she delivered them to the prison which housed the adult criminals of Academy City.

It was a simple process that was nonetheless extremely effective and she managed to cross off several names by nightfall.

And as the first day of arresting those associated with this cloning project ended Kuroko found herself slinking back to her room to wait up for her Onee-sama. Over an hour passed but Her Onee-sama did not return. The words she had spoken yesterday came back to her.

"What's wrong Onee-sama... what are you planning. Why did you have such a resigned look. You can't be ready to give up... you never give up..." She glanced in the direction of the tall white spire, "Please do something Aleister... before she gets hurt..."

Finally it was time for her lesson and she went to Lammington's with a heavy heart.

She knocked on the door and Lammington let her in. "Ah, welcome are you ready to start today's lesson."

"_No... I'd like to take the day off if that's ok with you."_

"Well, I'm fine with it. Is there any reason why though?"

"_Yes," _Kuro replied simply before walking to Oneeni's room. She sat at the, appropriately named, vanity that the pair of Frenchmen had gotten for her doing her hair. A normal person might have noticed Kuroko's reflection on the mirror as she entered but Oneeni typically paid attention to her own reflection alone so she wasn't aware until a pair of arms wrapped around her.

"_It is past all controversy that what costs most is, and ought to be, most valued,"_ the younger girl quoted in Spanish one of her favorite lines from Don Quixote as she rested her chin upon the clone's shoulder, "_It is for Dulcinea, my princess, that I venture forth, for her I fight the giants and armies of this land."_

Then she sighed, "_It is so silly to court a delusion... but better a fictional princess than a real live dragon."_ Kuro said and grabbed the clone's hand, pulling her up, "_Shiro is suffering a Misaka deficiency so we're going on a date."[1]_

* * *

In terms of what they could bring to Skill Out, the three generals were quite diverse, which was one of the reasons that they fared so well.

Hattori was a master of stealth. He could easily infiltrate almost anything without being seen, appear in places suddenly and without warning, and move faster than a normal person should be able to. There were times when Ritoku wondered if he had an ability after all, but he wasn't affected by the Capacity Down and he was legally classified as level zero so Ritoku chalked it up to skill. He was so skilled at subterfuge that his nickname was "The Ninja General" among the troops and Shiage frequently used it against him during their pointless and petty insult tradings.

Shiage himself was very good at one-on-one combat as well as using firearms. He was a good tactician, battles seeming to be the only thing which made him think more than five minutes ahead. But his best skill was probably his luck. He often disregarded all risks in a fight and still won. If he wasn't so terrible at games of chance one would think him blessed by God given his luck.

Ritoku was also good at one-on-one combat but his specialty was strategy. Skill Out was currently a bigger threat than it had been when it had had even more members simply because of Ritoku's skill at leadership. But even more than that, he could read people very well. He could anticipate his opponents actions with extreme precision. He had an extremely large amount of common sense that allowed him to accurately guess a person's actions and plan for them accordingly.

It was with these skills in mind and the support of his fellow members of Skill Out that Ritoku planned his attacks. He could hardly spare anyone during the day without leaving several people vulnerable but he could spare them during the night. And he could get Hattori to handle things during the day, gathering information about their targets before they launched their assault, making sure it wasn't a trap.

After he had learned what there was to know Ritoku was ready to begin the attacks. Of course he was still cautious so the first night was a simple testing of the water with a vulnerable target and a single person sent in to destroy it. Shiage volunteered and went to the building.

A security robot stopped him at the door. Shiage had long since learned exactly how to take care of these particular metal annoyances. All he needed to do was pull out his silenced pistol and shot it twice, once in the mechanism that sounded the alarm and the other time in the memory chip that held the data for the camera. Then nobody would know he had ever been there.

Of course this time the was a better option. Recently a large number of vadalism and arson charges had been reported but not dealt with. There was something about these cases that made the police very slow to act. So if he were to replicate these acts they would surely react similarly.

It was with that logic in his head that he pulled out a tool that Ritoku had given him. It acted like a jammer for the robots, shutting them down much like what had happened during the previous cases. The robot shut down and he walked into the building. He only had two charges left so he tried to make his way through quietly. Stealth was hardly his strong suit but if that headband wearing pansy could do it why couldn't he?

He made his way to the generator and got out his tools. Shiage was actually more intelligent than lots of people believed. He had knowledge of a variety of fields, engineering being one of them. He didn't need explosives for this part, he knew, he only needed to mess with a little bit of wiring and this whole room would become a bomb. It was these small changes that he proceeded to do. Then he left the building, sparing it only the briefest of glances as it exploded in a cloud of flames and electricity.

The next day the same girl as before delivered their payment and the true operations began.

* * *

August 26th, 11:13PM

"Sir, as you predicted they have begun the move of their data and funds for transport out of city. Again as you predicted they are doing so through compact physical media to ensure security after all of the attacks. All this physical has all been gathered in one secure location. The Family awaits your orders," one of Itora's higher ranking subordinates told him.

"Tell them to hold back. I can't risk them getting hurt," Itora said.

"Of course sir. So shall we contact someone else to do it for us. Or are we going to cease the pursuit at this point?"

"Neither," Itora said as he picked up a baseball that was laying on top of his desk, "I believe it is time to show our opponents what it means to mess with the head of the ESPer labor union.

* * *

Itora walked along the walled perimeter of the building tossing the baseball up and down in the air until he reached the gate.

When he was a child he always loved baseball. He had once had dreams of going into the big leagues until he found his true calling. Even without his power he could pitch with the best of them. But it was with his power that he truly shined. The baseball showed his ability off perfectly.

Control over efficiency might sound like quite a lame power but the people who thought that did not understand just what it meant, they did not know just how much energy was wasted in every motion, every action. If a train hit a building it would cause devastation, but not nearly as much devastation as it could possible cause if the reaction was perfectly inelastic, if the train imparted all of its energy into the building without wasting any of it.

Even a simple baseball could leave a hole in concrete if all of it's energy, in excess of 100 pounds of force per square inch, was imparted into its target. This was a fact he took advantage of as he tossed the ball at the center of the door. It hit hard and fast but it did not bounce in the slightest. It stopped right on the impact site as if caught by a catcher's mitt. The door was not as motionless. A large dent appeared in the like a puddle on the water as the ball fell to the floor. But despite the show of force not a sound was made. Sound was produced by energy from a reaction leaking out. It was why things that bounced higher made less noise, they could use their energy more efficiently. Itora's footsteps never made a sound. He could clap vigorously or tap-dance on metal and it would only make a sound if he chose for it to.

20 years of honing and perfecting his ability allowed him to use in very widely varying ways. Simple things like collisions had been the first thing he had learned to do so he was best at that but he could affect far more complex systems as well. Like the security system. The inverse of efficciency was resistance after all, so all he needed to do was make the electricity able to flow slightly less efficiently, and the effects were massive.

This was an important skill to have when the security guards, who began charging at him the moment as he blasted the door open, had electrical weapons. This company manufactured electrical weaponry for both defensive and offensive uses, which was the reason they had gone into the Shift project to begin with, to harness the clone's electrical powers for their own uses.

It was an easy matter to disable their weapons with Itora's ability, leaving the ones who had not been zapped unconscious by their own guns due to a short circuit frantically pulling their triggers to no avail.

Itora smiled as he threw a baseball at one of them, shattering the visor of his helmet and leaving him unconscious with a concussion. "Real life is so unforgiving, I mean in baseball you at least get three strikes before you're out. In real life all it takes is one," he chuckled as he quickly dispatched the rest. As he looked at the carnage he had just wrought, he smiled and said, "they should be glad I prefer baseball to shot put at least.".

With that he continued on his way until he arrived at the room full of all the physical media on the project. Helpfully they were grouped into piles labeled Administration, Research Data, and Financial. He went over the the research data pile. It was mostly disks and memory cards so it was easily the smallest pile in terms of size due to the very small volume of paperwork which the others had by the ton.

Itora lowered one of the electrical guns that one of the guards had been carrying at the pile and fired until the battery ran out, frying the data completely. He had called for trucks to come and pick up the other piles which could be used in completely breaking apart this project and getting everyone involved arrested.

Though that job had already been mostly completed by the teleporter in only two days, a fact which had greatly impressed Itora as it had made his job so much easier. The Skill Out goons he had used had also done their job very well, though it did end up costing him quite a bit, whereas the teleporter was free. He had actually planned to use her from the start but he didn't want to risk such a valuable piece as her when there was a pawn that he could use instead.

But of course everything had turned out alright. He had even managed to turn the situation to his favor business wise as he bought up shares of the competitors of these companies involved in the project just before their competition was destroyed, leaving them better off than before and leaving Itora even richer.

Of course that was not his main goal. Now all he needed to do was go and see...

"A job well done Itora," Marshall said appreciatively from the doorway. Itora turned to face him and barely caught the large metal object that was speeding towards his head. He looked at it and saw that it was a medal with the words, "For Great Service to the People of Academy City" engraved on it. Itora was left understandably confused but he did not let it bother him for long.

"Of course, I always hold up my end of a deal, now have you held up yours," the crime boss asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," He shrugged and turned away, "It's not like you can take back your actions now and a pushover like yourself didn't even ask for a deposit. I can walk away right now without doing anything and be better off for it." He began walking off just as he said.

Itora used his ability to muffle the sounds of his handgun as he pulled it out of its holster and aimed it at Marshall then pulled the trigger, sending a shot ringing out in the air.

Itora looked at his Marshall, seeing the smoke that poured from the barrel of marshall's own gun which was pointed at him.

He looked down to see if he had been shot or not but there was no wound on his person. His gun however seemed to have been blown apart, the entire barrel splayed out like a banana peel from the bullet hole that had appeared in it.

"Not such a pushover after all... good. You'd do well to stay that way. The plan has been enacted. Accelerator will soon be under your control, as long as you play your cards right. We'll see each other soon Itora," Marshall smirked and left.

Itora looked at the bullet embedded in the wall directly behind where the police chief had been. The shot that the mob boss had gotten off milliseconds before Marshall had.

"I see why people have such a hard time killing him..." he said with a sigh as he heard his trucks pull up outside.

* * *

[1]: I know this is being unfair to all the people who want to read this so badly but writing out the date here here would ruin the flow (don't worry because next chapter will have plenty of romance to make up for this and the date will be written out), so I moved this part to the Omake section. Which I decided to just have a single chapter that I periodically update with new sections, so that the date will be out in a couple of days. I do need a few more ideas or suggestions for things to include in my Omake that don't involve things that are going to happen eventually, like Misaka and Oneeni meeting up..

* * *

Author's Note: Well here it is, chapter 20. As you can see it doesn't influence anything too much but it does provide a bit of closure to the Sisters Arc and it is quite fun to read if I do say so myself. Though you can see why it took me so long to finish given its length and its much varied settings and characters.

As I probably said before the idea that Touma defeating Accelerator could, alone, bring down the level six shift is hard to grasp. And if indeed it is the case there is not much karmic retribution for anyone involved except the person in charge who became bankrupt for an inexplicable reason after this.

Given the sheer number of facilities as well as the fact that Kuroko needed to stay in the dark about the Sisters I decided that some help was required and so I decided to have the Skill Out people join in due mostly to one fan's particular interest in Shiage. As I have mentioned before I do like appealing to my readers and working their suggestions into my book, so know that your reviews really do matter and could change the book to your liking.

* * *

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to GravitonBomber who gave me the idea for this chapter and drew the new cover art for the story. It makes me feel so proud as a writer to have fan art of my fiction so if anyone ever create some more I'd love to see it.

* * *

Coming Soon: The Wrath of the Sun God.


	21. Toaru Kōfuku no Saikai

とある幸福の再会

Toaru Kōfuku no Saikai

A Certain Reunion of Happiness

* * *

August 22nd, 8:07PM,

Tokiwadai Exterior Dormitories

Kuroko sighed as she sat on her bed. Her day had been spent arresting the rest of the people associated with the project and now she sat and waited. Things should have been sorted yesterday. She had helped that Neanderthal Touma just like Aleister had said while ensuring that her connection to the head of the city and his manipulation of the lout was a secret. He had rushed out seemingly knowing what to do while knowing nothing of why he was doing it.

The extremely concerned teleporter had, of course, followed stealthily behind him but she was called away by Aleister. She had tried to protest but Aleister said that his plan was the only way to ensure Misaka's safety and that he needed her there to ensure that she was ready to deal with any variances within the plan. Reluctantly she had obeyed him and sat in the windowless building as Aleister monitored the situation.

When that was over she returned and waited. When daybreak came with no sign of her she had vented her frustration by continuing the hunt in a far more aggressive manner than yesterday. She now sported a few minor (minor to the person who had limbs blown off every week at least) injuries to show for it but these were disregarded when the pain in her heart surpassed any pain she could possibly feel from her body.

Again she had been left alone by the people who were supposed to love her. She had thought that Misaka would be different from her parents, that the electro master would always be by her side, that this time she would not be abandoned.

Kuroko believed that everything in the world needed to be earned through effort. She had tried so hard, so so hard to make Misaka love her. She had been too young back then to make the effort needed for her parents to love her, but now she was older, old enough to be able to claim the love she yearned for yet never had, the love that completed her and made her feel like happiness was possible, the love that she was so terrified of losing. And right now she felt like it was slip sliding away from her. Why else would Misaka not return even after everything had been settled, she must know how much Kuroko was worrying about her.

So many emotions were bubbling within Kuroko: hurt, betrayal, anger, grief. She felt ready to snap Misaka like a twig the next time she saw her for causing her to feel so much pain, for causing this horrible feeling that she would easily trade for the surely more pleasant experience of being dipped in a vat of acid.

But if she did that it would undo everything she had worked so hard for. If she greeted Misaka with anything but love she would lose the only thing that held her together, the only thing that made her feel like she was worth anything. If she didn't forgive Misaka completely for anything and everything that the older girl did then she would surely lose the only person she was willing to live for.

That was the younger girl's "duty" after all, to endure everything for the sake of her love, to brush off even the greatest of pains that her Onee-sama caused her, to make all the effort she could without expecting anything in return. Kuroko's only chance at being loved by such a perfect girl was to love the electro master more than anyone else could ever hope to. That was how the worked wasn't it? The law of conservation said that you get out what you put in. If a person wanted to be loved then they needed to show love first.

Of course, to the self-loathing, self-pitying Kuroko, who thought that she was special enough for the world to bother having a personal vendetta against, this only applied to herself. Misaka was so perfect that she deserved love without earning it. Misaka didn't need to do a thing to earn Kuroko's love, she just needed to exist to be worthy of it.

The teleporter glanced at the clock, 'it's getting pretty late... maybe she's lost or... maybe she got hurt...' she banished the latter thought immediately not only because it was uncomfortable but because it was so unlikely as well. If she had been hurt last night she would have been told and there was no way she would have been hurt simply walking back here. No thug in the city could lay a hand on her, no matter how much they tried. And given the warning she had issued to Skill Out against even attempting violence against her as well as her thug purging of the district there was a very small list of people who would try.

That brute might have done something to her. He could nullify her power and Misaka relied solely on her ability to win fights so she would have no defense...

Perhaps Kuroko could teach her how to fight . She thought about it then nodded. Not only did the image of her Onee-sama in a gi not particularly appeal to her like the leotard image, but Kuroko's fluid, redirectory style would not fit the older girl at all. The measured ferocity of Kuro's merciless brawling would be better suited for her but she could hardly trust Kuro to spar with Misaka without holding back. Which brought up the question of how Kuroko herself could teach her given her utter reluctance to inflict pain on the older girl.

She glanced at the clock again and saw that 2 minutes had passed. The distraction of these thoughts not proving a distraction enough.

She threw out the lunch she had prepared for the two of them and began preparing dinner. Once that was done she left it in the oven to ensure it was kept warm and decided to go and pace in the front of the building, hoping that she could spot the older girl better from out there.

As luck would have it she had just gone through the door when her eyes fell upon the girl she had been looking for. Her emotions exploded like a bomb which she was quick to stifle against her Onee-sama's body as she wrapped it in a hug and nuzzled her chest.

* * *

Misaka hadn't even walked through the door of the dorms before Kuroko had her wrapped in a hug, even more eager than before at Misaka's return, as if she knew for sure that this time she would be staying... and yet the tremor in her arms and the firmness of her grip suggested the doubt she had of the same.

Misaka patted her on the head as she whispered, "I'm home Kuroko..." She leaned down slightly to give her a little peck on the forehead, "I'm home..." she repeated.

Kuroko was silent, just rubbing her head in Misaka's chest in a way that Misaka would normally never allow. But right now it was the least she could do to tolerate this. Misaka could only guess how much she had hurt the teleporter with her absence.

It then dawned on her that she had planned to die to stop the project. How would Kuroko react if she had gone through with it? The younger girl was so deeply in love that she might have pulled a Romeo and killed herself as well, not able to live without her. Could she have gone through with it at all knowing that? And what about her parents? How would they react to their daughter and only child dying?

She had been so selfish even considering killing herself when so many people loved and cared for her and would miss her if she was gone.

Still, she couldn't have allowed Kuroko to get caught up in everything. Kuroko was her kouhai, roommate, best friend, and girlfriend, she was so important to the electro master and the older girl couldn't stand it if the teleporter got hurt. It was one thing to let that idiot try and help when he seemed to be able to counter any attack, it was another to let Kuroko, someone she genuinely loved and cared about, get hurt trying to help her. As tough as Kuroko was, Misaka doubted even she could defeat such a tough opponent as Accelerator, and she knew she would try. She had such a strong sense of justice and will to protect as it was, if it was Misaka in danger she had no doubt the teleporter would be willing to tear apart the world or throw herself in front of a train just for the chance that the electro master would survive uninjured.

In many ways Touma was a lot like Kuroko in that sense. Just like the teleporter he also knew just how to get on Misaka's nerves.

But in every other sense the idiot couldn't possibly compare to her girlfriend. He was rude, unsophisticated, and, despite his heroism, not that nice a person. He talked down to her, called her insulting nicknames, and generally treated her like she was nothing but a kid. Granted, Kuroko did that last thing too but it was concern over Misaka's image that spawned it rather than an attempt to ridicule her. And sure Kuroko was a bit rude and condescending to some people and...

... they really were more alike than Misaka thought. The biggest difference though was that Misaka was special to Kuroko. The teleporter loved and cared for the electro master to incredible levels.

That was why it must have hurt for her all this time. She didn't regret what she had done, it had needed to be done after all, but that did not make her feel any less guilty about it. That was why she would be making it up to Kuroko no matter what it took. But first things first...

"Umm... Kuroko... I missed you too but we really should get to our dorms first don't you think. I kind of need a shower and a change of clothes before you start hugging me." She had barely gotten the sentence out when she found herself standing in the shower of their dorm. Kuroko shifted her grasp, dangling an arm along her hip and the next second their clothing disappeared, leaving them naked in the shower.

The younger girl turned on the water then immediately resumed hugging her. Misaka recoiled away from the freezing water that bombarded her back and further into Kuroko's hold yelping as she reached and turned the water knob to a far warmer temperature.

"Kuroko-" Misaka began her protests once the water was no longer in danger of giving her hypothermia as her face lit up like a Christmas tree. But a tight squeeze from the younger girl whose arms were still wrapped around her waist silenced her. Misaka could feel every muscle in the teleporter's body tense, as if angry or, more likely, afraid. it was as if she was using herself as an anchor to ensure that Misaka would stay. Misaka was very uncomfortable with this but she could handle it this once she supposed, if Kuroko was really that afraid and needed this to calm her down. Besides, given the strength of the grip it would probably take a crowbar to get her off.

Thus her protests petered out into a sigh as the now hot water bombarded her back, her hands encircling the teleporter as well. One hand resting on the familiar scars while the other stroked the smaller girl's auburn hair which tumbled down her back without the ribbons holding them up. By this time the teleporter's head had stopped rubbing against her chest and now rested in it's usual space between Misaka's collarbone and sternum, the top just high up enough to support her chin. Misaka gently kissed the top of her head as the water poured over the two of them.

* * *

Kuroko kept silent this entire time, too afraid of the pained words and accusations that might slip out if she opened her mouth. Upon seeing Misaka so many things had rushed through her, so many unpleasant. But she did what she always did whenever she felt angry at the older girl. She told herself that it wasn't anger she was feeling. She told herself that it was love. The only emotion that the teleporter could possibly feel for the electro master was love, anything else was simply love posing as something different. Anger would be returned with anger, but love would be returned with love. If she wanted Misaka to love her she needed to feel nothing but love towards her.

Of course that was hard to do this time, after having been hurt so much. So she needed to concentrate and try really hard to smother all these emotions and turn them into love, turn the desire to yell and scream and cry and hit into a gentle hug that she hoped never to be interrupted from. This sensation of having Misaka in her arms holding her close like this was what she had missed so much. She couldn't ask for anything more than this.

* * *

The shower was quite awkward, in every sense of the word, to the electro master but the the warm water of a long long overdue shower as well as the hug of the person she had missed so much made it easy enough to forget the mental awkwardness. But it wasn't hard to ignore the physical awkwardness of having someone attached to you so tightly, especially when Misaka was reluctant enough to remove her arms from the embrace to wash her hair and body.

When that was over Misaka turned off the water and sighed. "I'm afraid you can't hold on for this next part Kuroko. I can't get dressed with you clinging onto me."

Kuroko tilted her head up just enough that one eye was visible. That eye had a look that managed to speak volumes despite how subtle it was. The look seemed to ask the question, "do you really have to do that?"

Misaka blushed again and clenched her fist, a little tired of this by this point. "Kuroko... normally when I give you an inch you ask for a mile, today I gave you a mile already so don't start asking for a league." a few sparks got her meaning across and Kuroo detached with a sigh.

"One thing before you get dressed though..." Kuroko began, the sentence was not a request but a demand.

A few more sparks, larger ones, discharged now in annoyance. The younger girl had not listened at all it seemed. "Kuroko, what did I just say."

Alas her words fell on deaf ears as the younger girl disappeared and reappeared next second with a box wrapped in chains. The chains disappeared with a touch and she opened the box revealing countless bottles of various pills and ointments. She put it on the ground and sat next to it, pointing at the space in front of her.

"Sit down and let me tend to your wounds," she said, noting the numerous injuries, some minor others quite severe, that the older girl had suffered in the past couple days. She had tended to her a few times before, including once while the older girl slept in the early morning of the 19th when the injuries had been most severe. When she had arrived back from her mission that night to see her Onee-sama so hurt she had immediately tended to her without even bothering to wake her. Today it wasn't nearly as bad, but she clearly wasn't injury free either. The wounds weren't obvious and so she might have appeared so to someone who didn't look as hard as Kuroko did but as an expert at hiding wounds herself she knew exactly how to look.

Misaka covered herself but Kuroko's eyes only glanced over the parts that were worth covering as they scanned her body for injuries; too busy worrying to feel lustful.

Strained and torn muscles, bruised bones, a deep gash hidden by a flesh colored, nearly unnoticeable Band-Aid. Not only that but the stress had taken its toll too.

Luckily Kuroko knew how to treat almost any wound that one could imagine inflicting upon themselves, having had to treat herself of almost all of them multiple times. She cleaned and sterilized the wounds,, bandaged them properly, and sorted out several pills that she would need to take. She even offered to some of them into the meal that she had prepared to make them easier to take.

"Dinner?!" Misaka's ears immediately perked up at that phrase. her stomach grumbled loudly reminding her just how hungry she was.

Kuroko giggled both at Misaka's blush and at the familiarity of that grumble that always betrayed her Onee-sama's inner glutton. "Of course, I've been keeping it warm waiting for you to return." _Breakfast and Lunch too, but you had to throw those out because the pereskia couldn't bother to show up for them._

"Thanks Kuroko," Misaka said, "but let me get dressed first."

"Sure but you'll need to get undressed again after the meal. You still need a massage to help relax your muscles."

A deep blush colored her face at the thought of Kuroko massaging her bare body and she shook her head, sparking involuntarily. "No." she adamantly refused, "Pajamas stay on." It briefly occurred to her that she could simply refuse the massage but the offer was made without any lust or lecherousness in her tone.

Though the frown that painted the younger girl face the next second as she reluctantly said, "ok" made her rethink the possibility of her perverted girlfriend ever having completely pure motives.

* * *

Kuroko left the bathroom and Misaka stood up and set about getting dressed only to realize that she had not brought in pajamas. She was about to call out when a pair appeared on the rack as if Kuroko was a telepath in addition to being a teleporter.

Misaka got dressed and then went out to eat the delicious meal that Kuroko made. Kuroko insisted on sitting on her lap and feeding her every bite, making the meal a little too slow for her tastes, but it was worth it for a home cooked meal like this after so long of having hardly anything.

Touma's words briefly repeated themselves in her mind, about home-made cookies. She supposed that he did deserve some form of repayment. Making cookies was the least Misaka could do for him considering what he had done for her. But she didn't know how to make cookies at all, and it would be best not to ask Kuroko for help with the matter. Maybe Saten..

"Hey Kuroko, do you mind if I go see the others tomorrow?"

"'I'? not 'We'?"

Misaka leveled a gaze at the girl sitting on her lap, "would you be able to keep yourself off of me long enough for me to get a word out with them?"

Indignation flashed briefly across Kuroko's face then she realized that Misaka was probably right. "Ok, but in return, shirt off for the massage. It's better for you that way anyway."

Misaka thought it over. She would only be seeing her back she supposed, so it was alright. She agreed reluctantly and laid face down on the bed. Kuroko straddled her, sitting on the small of her back in a somewhat uncomfortable manner.

She was about to protest but the second the younger girl's hands began their gentle massage of the tense and weary muscles that had been aching for the past several days from overuse all the fight within Misaka died. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax at her roommate's skilled and nimble fingers.

She smiled as she let her mind wander. She thought about the events of the past couple days and of Kuroko. She briefly imagined what it would be like if the teleporter were to find out about her clones. An image immediately came to mind of her girlfriend drooling over an assembled horde of Misaka look-alikes before pouncing on them and harassing them one grope at a time.

She decided at that moment to keep the clones a secret from the younger girl. For the sake of the clones, she told herself. But if she were to be honest it was more because she didn't want her girlfriend looking at anyone else in that way. The teleporter wasn't shallow enough to leave her for her clones just because they looked like her, and were less violent than her, and more honest than her...

"Onee-sama, your tensing up again... is something wrong..." concern rang softly in the younger girls voice as her fingers traced the now tensed shoulders of the older girl.

"No no it's..." Misaka began, then sighed, the action relaxing her shoulders once more, "Hey.. Kuroko," she began again after a short silence, "I'm sorry. I'll try my hardest never to do this again, in exchange please promise me that you'll never leave me either."

The electro master's face burned with the blush that the words caused even as she said them, but the very idea of Kuroko leaving her, as far as it was from imaginable given how passionately she had always pursued her, was a hard one to swallow. She didn't want to imagine what it would be like, coming home every day to an empty room without some idiot roommate trying to hug and molest her at every opportunity. Without someone trying to push her love on her and care for her and look after her... It was worth the embarrassment of the words to hear her answer. to hear Kuroko promise her that she would never have to face that horrible fate.

The fingers stopped the moment those words left her mouth. Immediately Kuroko let out a "squeea" of joy and hugged Misaka tightly around the chest, kissing the back of her neck and radiating happiness powerfully enough for Misaka to feel it without even looking at her. "Of course Onee-sama. Our paths may diverge at times and I understand there may be times even a few days in a row where one of us cannot see the other, but as long as we love each other we will always be together. Love is always being there for each other after all. As long as you love me I'll stay right by your side..."

* * *

August 22nd 11:54AM

Location Unknown

The iridescent glow of the lights were blinding to the girl as she ran down the metallic corridor, eyes shut with hands over her ears trying in vain to mute this new stimulus that bombarded her with every second passed and every hard, echoing footstep taken. She didn't need her sight to maneuver these corridors; she had walked through them a million times though never herself, she knew exactly where to go.

She was running, from what or who she didn't know. Her instincts told her that she needed to run though. Her instincts told her that there was a threat, a threat that had disturbed her and roused her from her state of sleep.

It was the same threat that even now followed her, the threat that produced the other pair of thundering footsteps down the corridor.

She ran fast and hard, ignoring the slight pain caused by her bare feet hammering against the metal floor. Still her failure was inevitable. Though she had a head start her legs were many times shorter than her pursuer's. He would soon catch up and when he did...

Suddenly the girl collided with something. She felt arms wrap about her, lifting her up and pulling her to the side. The girl was paralyzed in fright, unable to fight off her grappler as the footsteps that signaled her doom drew ever closer.

Then they started to get further away as the man ran right past, screaming obscenities and waving a gun around as he searched for the girl. When the last echoes of his voice faded away the arms that gripped her tightly immediately relaxed and shifted their hold to pick her up and support her vulnerable form and walked down the corridor away from the man, her own footsteps as quiet as the whisper of a mouse.

The girl raised a hand to shield her eyes from the harsh overhead lights. Then she opened her eyes to get a glance at the person who had rescued her from whatever fate that man had planned for her.

She gasped when her eyes spotted the shadowy face partially covered by sunglasses, "Shepherd-nee-chan, exclaims MISAKA as MISAKA hugs Shepherd-nee-chan tightly, knowing all about her from the network."

"We'll talk a bit later so be quiet until I get you out of here, says Shepherd says MISAKA as MISAKA obeys," The little girl spoke a little more than perhaps necessary but such was the way of the network. Last Order was quite surprised that the older girl's ability to give priority commands to the clones affected even her, the administrator of the network. She also noticed that such a command seemed to spread throughout the entire network, forcing all of the clones to not only repeat the command but follow it, though she could easily overwrite it with the other clones as it was not a priority commands like the ones Last Order herself could give or that the older clone could deliver in person.

* * *

Oneeni moved quickly throughout the corridors, Last Order clinging onto her back, arms wrapped around her neck, legs wrapped around her waist. Most security personnel were gone but there were a couple who Ao had paid to guard him on this last venture. And then there were the numerous security robots that sped along the halls. Much like the two that were approaching right now.

Oneeni stepped to the side, into a little alcove and fired a little pin from her wrist which embedded into the wall, trailing along a little strand of conductive monofilament wire. She pulled it taut and waited for the bots to pass. The wire was thin enough to cut through the steel casing of the robots like a hot knife through butter. Of course it was also too thin to cause any damage, at least not on its own.

The moment the wire touched any electronics Oneeni used her power to blow the entire system, short circuiting the robots and causing them to shut down.

After that she continued running. She came across two of the security personnel, taking a non-authorized break in one of the corridors it was necessary to pass through to get to the exit. Oneeni got out one of her knifes and threw it at one as she ran at them. The pommel of her knife hit the temple of the one she threw it out knocking him out and surprising the other one. He looked in the direction it had come from a moment too late to see Oneeni charging up to him, hitting him hard in the stomach with the crook of her cane, causing him to keel over. A hit on the head and he was out too.

Unfortunately this exchange was seen by a security robot further down the hall and it began to sound the alarm. Not having time to do anything else Oneeni sent a bolt of lightning at the robot, frying it entirely at the cost of draining her reserves.

However Last Orders seemed to know exactly what to do and began recharging the capacitor on Oneeni's back with her powers, soon leaving her with a full supply of power again. A supply which she quickly used to incapacitate another guard using her cane as a conduit to zap his head and send him quietly into unconsciousness.

Finally she was within sight of the exit. She touched the door mechanism and used her power to open the door, which she immediately escaped through into the cold, night air beyond.

* * *

"Wow, Misaka 9982 was right, outside is really nice says MISAKA as MISAKA breathes in the fresh unrecycled air with a smile." Last Order squirmed a bit in Oneeni's grip and so the older girl let her down. The little girl walked around slowly and casually. Now that she wasn't being chased, now that she was in the safe hands of the Shepherd, she could afford herself a bit of leisure.

The night was cold and a stray breeze against her bare skin made her shiver. Then she felt something draping over her. She looked and saw that it was the jacket to the tuxedo that Shepherd-nee-chan wore. It was large enough to cover her like a dress and the sleeves were long enough to dangle over the edge of her hands. Oneeni turned her around, now sitting on the ground as she frowned, looking the little girl up and down. She then began to sign. "We're going to a hotel. You look pretty awful."

The little girl pouted at the slight but knew that the clone meant nothing by it and that she probably would look pretty awful after being stuck in that tube for so long. So she made no protests as Oneeni picked her up again and fired the mini grappling hook disguised as a pen into a nearby building, using it to get to the level of one of the many power lines which she alighted upon and began to zip through the city towards the nearest hotel.

She soon arrived and checked into their room, Last Order ooed and awed at everything along the way, the world so new to her even though she had experienced them through others so many times before. As they got into the room Last Order immediately jumped onto the bed and, discovering it was really springy and bouncy, began to jump up and down on it, disregarding her state of dress as children were wont to do.

Oneeni sighed at her excitability and looked in the bathroom, frowning slightly at the lack of toiletries and other necessities like makeup that she found in there. She attempted to catch the little girls attention but she was wrapped up in her own world so simply waving didn't cut it. So Oneeni resorted to her usual method, speaking a word in angelic that had no human equivalent. The other clones could not repeat the meaning of her words so they remained silent, but it did force acknowledgement and thus got her attention.

"I need to go get some things before we begin," she signed, "Jesus will look after you and keep you safe while I'm gone but make his job easy and stay in this room."

Last Order pouted, "but I want to go with you. That power line thing you did was so cool, I want to try it again, says MISAKA as MISAKA bounces on the bed miming the action and making cool sound effects."

"No, just-" she began.

"Stay here, says Shepherd says MISAKA as MISAKA reluctantly obeys to command, huffing at the unfairness of the entire thing," It was unfair as well. Last Order was the one who gave orders, she was the administrator. She wasn't the one who was told what to do. If Oneeni was part of the network then Last Order would be the one giving the orders.

But she wasn't part of the network. Last Order knew nothing of what she thought or felt or experienced other than the times she interacted with the other clones. She had been such a big part of the clones' lives, always taking care of them and being there for them. The biggest comfort that the slaughtered clones had had before their fight with Accelerator was the goodbye hug that the shepherd always gave them.

And yet despite being such an integral part of their lives the clone was a mystery. She was a failure, a defect, a mistake, the only mistake that had not been terminated afterwards. She was odd, bearing even more quirks of behavior than the typical clone. Her mind clearly worked in far different ways than the rest, yet it was the only mind whose workings the small electro master was not privy to. Being disconnected with the network meant that, even though she was so close to the clones, she was also more distant than any of the others.

Then again it was probably a good thing she was not connected. She seemed to have an ignorance about the Sister Project that many of the other clones only wished they could have. She seemed to be unable to comprehend the words kill and die, so whenever she was told what had happened to the others she seemed to think that they had gone to someplace named "kill" or "die". The horrors of the experiment often gave the clones nightmares as they experienced the deaths of people who were themselves for all intents and purposes over and over and over.

Sparing Onee-chan from that horror would be well worth the inability to command her and know what she was doing and thinking.

* * *

Oneeni zipped along the power lines back home. Kuro-sama, or Shiro-sama rather, had taken the next couple of days off to spend time with the original so it wasn't like she was expected back. She wouldn't be doing anything had that call from her mentor not come through with a personal request. A request to save Last Order from Ao and keep her safe and out of sight for the next few days until her next mission began.

Considering she was one of the clones Oneeni felt the same duty to care and protect her that she did for all the others, even the original to a lesser extent. She had always wanted to prove herself better than the original in a fight of some kind and would have no issue beating her up, but at the same time she could not help her caring instinct that would probably lead her to bandaging up the very injuries she caused to original in their theoretical (for now) fight the second after she caused them.

Though Last Order was a lot different than the other clones the same instinct still took over, and so she had immediately accepted his request. Granted he was not someone who she, or many people, could refuse as it was. The aura that surrounded him constantly told the people around him that he was not as trifling as he appeared, and considering how intimidating his appearance was to begin with, most people gave him a wide berth. Of course they didn't know the other side he had to him that possibly only Oneeni knew about.

He had seemed to genuinely care about Oneeni. Perhaps not at the beginning but as they spent time together he seemed to get closer and closer to the clone. he seemed to be the only one who could understand Oneeni, in more ways than one.

She actually really missed him and was really happy to have heard from him again, if only briefly. He had mentioned seeing each other again later on, when the next mission was over, so she at least had that to look forward too.

He had also asked something else, about Kuro-sama. Asking her if she had ever mentioned a bird, specifically a raven. She had vaguely remembered something about it from before so she had answered yes. He seemed really happy about that.

Again she briefly wondered why he had asked such a thing. She looked at her wrist and the rosary that adorned it. hanging off the edge was a single jet black feather.

'Maybe he just likes birds...' she thought and focused again on the path ahead.

* * *

Soon enough Oneeni arrived back at the Fleur de Temps apartment complex and unlocked the door. Vyers was out partying and Lammington was tending to his numerous flower gardens spread throughout the city and refining the leaves to make more tea. So she wasn't disturbing anyone as she slipped in to get her stuff then back out again.

After that it was a quick zip back to the hotel where Last Order was currently sitting enthralled by the TV. She spared the briefest of glances towards the door to give Oneeni a smile and a welcome back. Oneeni put down the backpack and sat next to the child, seeing what was on that enthralled her so. It was an animated show with lots of colors and noises and sparkles that failed utterly to interest Oneeni, but she left the younger girl watch in peace, sitting beside her until Last Order shifted her seat to sit on the older clones lap.

This world outside the tube that she had been raised in was full of all sorts of things that the artificial womb had guarded against, the noises and lights and physical sensations that made babies bawl the moment they first experienced them. Even though Last Order had had the Testament treatment before being released so she didn't react like a child would the moment of birth it had been so scary and overwhelming at first, being bombarded by all these sensations that had only existed as concepts and memories beforehand.

But having shepherd-nee-chan here made everything not so scary. The gentle presence of the shepherd was very calming and reassuring and made Last Order feel like she could handle this new world and everything that it brought.

once the show was over Oneeni picked up Last Order and brought her into the bathroom where she took a bath with the younger girl, much to the smaller one's protests. She had to threaten to order Last Order to hold still before the younger girl actually did so. It was lucky she had brought the tear free shampoo or else there would surely have been another tantrum at that.

As much as she understood what the girl was going through, all the clones had experienced it after all, but she could hardly abide such a sloppy appearance.

"Shepherd-nee-chan, when are you going to be done... MISAKA whines as MISAKA sits in front of the mirror, getting her hair brushed by Shepherd-nee-chan."

"When I get this thing to stay down," she signed with frustration as she tried for the 134th time to brush down the tuft of hair that seemed so determined to stick up. Finally she gave up and decided to at least shape it into something better.

"Done," she signed and sighed as she finally finished. She was still disappointed in the result but the ahoge she now bore looked better than the cowlick she had had before.

Last Order on the other hand smiled with pride at her new look. It resembled one of the characters in the anime she had just seen and she approved. She gave Shepherd-nee-chan a hug and thanked her.

Oneeni brushed it off and helped the younger girl get dressed. Of course, for some strange reason, none of her clothes fit the little girl. Only her tuxedo jacket, which could auto fit to cover her entire body but still stay on, functioned as covering for the girl, so she stuck with that.

After that Last Order demanded food so Oneeni got room service for them. Last Order ate heartily then fell asleep quickly afterwards. Oneeni smiled at the girl's peaceful, sleeping face and fell asleep as well, turning the lights off and curling up with the smaller clone who snuggled into her bedmate happily.

* * *

For the next couple days Oneeni and Last Order moved around the city, both to stay hidden and because the younger clone asked to see the sights and Oneeni didn't have enough reason not to show them to her.

The little girl had a fantastic time and was really truly sorry when it came time to part ways with the older clone. "I'll miss you shepherd-nee-chan... I love you says MISAKA as MISAKA hugs shepherd-nee-chan tight and tries not to cry."

"I'm sorry, but I'm sure we'll see each other again. Call me any time you need me ok? I'll try to help the best I can. Do you know of anyone else you can go to for help though? Someone who can protect you?"

Last Order thought about it and a vague memory was roused from the depths of her mind. In a past life she had heard a story, one that shepherd-nee-chan herself had told the clones: of her meeting with Accelerator and his words to her. The Butcher, as was his codename, had never wanted to kill or hurt, he just wanted an end to the violence. He was not a bad person, Last Order knew this.

So she smiled up at the taller clone, "No worries Shepherd-nee-chan. I know someone who can help me says MISAKA as MISAKA forms a cunning plan."

Oneeni smiled and bent down, taking off the jacket from the younger girls form, "I kind of need this back but this should keep you warm says the shepherd says MISAKA as MISAKA accepts the blanket being held out to her and smiled in gratitude at the gift."

They shared one last hug before parting.

* * *

Author's Note: Another long one to make up for the short ones that I've been putting recently, and one that's out really quick to make up for how slow the other ones have been. I hope that this chapter turned out well. I admit that I don't know Last Order too well so I wasn't entirely sure I got her personality correct, but I did the best I could. The entire thing with Last Order being out and about before her meeting with XLR8R is sort of odd and it was the best I could do to make it work like I did so please forgive any mistakes or inconsistencies with canon. The chapter was really dragging on so I decided not to have much of Oneeni and Last Orders time together, but I can always use that for an omake if people really want to see it.


	22. Toaru Kōzoku no Chiryō

とある皇族の治療

Toaru Kōzoku no Chiryō

A Certain Royal Treatment

* * *

August 27th, 9:00 PM (8:00 AM Japan time)

Washington D.C.

"Yes! We! Can!"

Kuroko felt like an idiot. She was flanked by two secret service agents, standing outside the white house, and was giving a speech that was being broadcast all over the world about some scandal or another that she didn't even commit in a body that was not her own.

To make it worse she had almost been killed three times this evening alone.

And that was just the beginning of her three day stint as President of the United States of America.

The sequence of events leading up to this particular scenario was only slightly less mentally taxing than the scenario itself.

It was two days ago, when she had gone to the windowless building on her nightly visit when this mission had been sprung on her, though the preparations had been many weeks in the in the making.

* * *

August 25th, 9:45 AM (10:45PM Japan Time)

The Oval Office

"What is it Aleister?" Roberto Katze, the current president of the United States, sighed into the phone, "if it's about the bill that's coming through I know what you're going to say and you don't need to worry. Unlike some of those shortsighted senators I understand how important maintaining trade with you is. I'm planning to veto the bill if it passes."

"That is not the matter that I called you about, though it does relate. I trust you to know what is good for your country. What I worry about are the priorities of my enemies, those who care only about what is bad for my City. It has come to my attention that a few of those enemies pan to assassinate you."

"Oh... is that so..." Roberto droned, unsure if that was a threat or a genuine warning, "and pray tell... how would **my **death be bad for **your **city."

"Because they plan to do it using either ESPers who have since graduated and moved away from Academy City, or methods that look like the work of ESPers. Imagine the reaction of your people if you were to die at the hands of an ESPer just on the cusp of a vote that could heavily affect Academy City. We would be under immediate suspicion. Your replacement would likely declare war on us, an unfavorable situation for the both of us I'm sure you realize."

The reasoning was sound. Roberto could not believe that Aleister would be calling to warn him out of good nature, but if there was some benefit for him then it was not unthinkable. "Alright, thanks for the tip, I'll have my security doubled."

"That will not be enough. As I mentioned before they intend to use indirect methods. Given the other important meetings you will be having during those couple days a simple assassination would not bring immediate suspicion upon us. However if you were killed by an ESPer or with ESPer like means then people could not help but blame us."

"Then what are you suggesting?"

"I will send over someone trained to deal with ESPers and also, since the possibility exists that the assailants could be planning on using magic to kill you in ways that could be easily mistaken for ESPer work, someone trained to deal with magic."

"And you expect me to let them accompany me to my meetings and compromise the security. You expect me to allow you to put your agents so close to me with nothing to go on but your word."

"You misunderstand. The agents I plan on sending will not be accompanying you everywhere. They will deal with the situation before it arises, tell you who is and is not a threat, and your personal security can take it from there."

"And how do I know that they will tell me about the right people? What if they claim that random people are ESPers? How are they supposed to know?"

"We have a list of all ESPers who have ever been here as well as all known Gemstones. We have technology to detect those who have AIM fields. And if they are magicians, detecting their mana should be an easy matter. We will not get the wrong people."

"How do I know you are not making this up in order to curry favor with me? All this could be some elaborate ploy of yours to get us to owe you one, like you did in France."

"Your suspicion that it is so is what prevents it from working. If you think that it could be all my doing then you will not feel you owe me anything. The very idea of its falsehood is what makes the falsehood irrational."

Roberto sighed. All the possibilities had been rung through so now it was all down to the simple matter of whether or not he would accept the offer and the risk that he would face as a result of each of those.

"I want to meet them first and then I'll decide. How quickly can they be over here cause I got a meeting in about 5 minutes and I don't have a vacancy until one."

* * *

Aleister hung up and silently counted down. '3...2...1...'. Kuroko appeared right on schedule, Oneeni in tow.  
"Good evening Aleister-sama," she said and the pair knelt and bowed.

"Good evening child... You have a new and very important mission coming up."

"Yes Aleister sama?"

"In two days' time you will be sent to America to guard the president from people who will attempt to assassinate him. Tonight, child, you have a meeting with him. Further information will come after the meeting. For now you have to meet with the person who will be accompanying you on this mission."

"I won't be going with Oneeni?"

"You will child but it won't be just you two this time. This mission requires a different skillset than the clone possesses. You will be meeting with another agent of mine. I trust you to keep professional when you do."

"Of course Aleister-sama," she said, slightly surprised that he would bother reminding her.

"Before you go however I would like to confirm a few things. You are currently in your ESPer mode correct?"

"Yes Aleister-sama," she nodded.

"Then please stay still child," he said as a device came out of the wall. It was a large metal device with what seemed to be a variety of sensors on the end. It reached over close to her and moved around her body as if it was a curious dog, sniffing a new person. Seconds later it beeped and withdrew into the wall.

"Now child, please switch to your magical form."

"_Yes Aleister-sama," _Kuro said, confused as to what this was about.

A second or two passed before Aleister nodded and said, "you may switch back now child."

Kuroko nodded and briefly kissed Oneeni, feeling somewhat embarrassed to do so in front of Aleister-sama. Then she looked at him and asked, "What is this about."

"Lammington has informed me that he has noticed a slow ebb in the mana he could detect from you despite no corresponding loss of power. Instead of being lost it simply seems to be becoming unnoticable. Your AIM field, I have just confirmed, is being similarly disguised. It is still there, the sensor detected variances in the air signifying a presence of AIM, but it cannot be directly detected. Have you been taught a new spell that we are unaware of that is doing this?"

"No sir," Kuroko said, confused, "is it a problem."

"We will need to take measure next system scan to prevent suspicion but I do not see it being a problem child."

"Ok Aleister-sama, shall I go then?"

"Yes, report to the co-ordinates on the screen there. The clone should report to the airfield and prepare the plane since you are not able to teleport to America."

Kuroko memorized the numbers on the screen then nodded and disappeared with Oneeni.

Aleister sighed and looked towards the doorway where his associate was standing with a smile. "This is your doing correct?" Aleister accused, though his voice was far from persecutory, "Her AIM field and mana have both fallen into resonance with your SE field. That is why they have become undetectable."

"I am not the only one who knows how to create an SE field," the associate reminded him. 'My father was the one who created it in the first place,' the associate thought, but telling Aleister that might lead him to think and if Aleister thought too hard it might ruin the plan, and if the plan was ruined the associate might never meet their father again. And the associate didn't want that. Instead the associate simply smiled and taunted, "maybe a little bird told her how to do it, hmm?"

"Birds should be careful, lest they get their wings clipped..."

The associate laughed, "be sure to tell him that," they said as they left.

* * *

August 25th, 11:02PM

Academy City District 7

"This building looks very familiar..." Kuroko said as she stood in front of the building that stood where the coordinates Aleister had given had deposited her. It looked like a cross between a prison and a hotel. Numerous buildings of a similar type dotted the region though none of them looked quite as expensive or comfortable as the central one. It seemed as if she had seen it before but she couldn't quite remember where.

"_It is where I fought The Queen a few weeks ago, do you not remember."_

"Ah, so that was it," she said as the realization came in a wave. She wondered how she had forgotten something like that, even for a moment.

The teleporter went up and knocked on the door to the building. Soon it was answered by a girl around 15 years old, perhaps a bit older. She was clearly foreign with long, straight naturally blond hair and green eyes. She was tall and pretty well filled in. She wore a pink blouse and a long skirt and had a six pointed star dangling from a pendant around her neck. "Hello," she said in accented Japanese, "you must be the one Aleister told me about. Come on in," she invited as she stepped inside herself and called out, "We've got a guest, would you kindly make us some tea then join us in the living room, thanks."

Kuroko cautiously followed the foreign girl as she continued to talk, "My name is Avon, you're Kuroko correct? I've heard a bit about you, Academy City's Black Knight or, in just as many cases, the terrifying scourge. I must say you keep me busy at times..."

"Huh? Why is that?" Kuroko asked, not seeing the relation.

"I'm in charge of rehabilitation for the city so I hear quite of bit from the criminals you've put away."

"Oh yeah... this place is a rehabilitation facility isn't it..." She said, recalling that piece of information from her investigation all those weeks ago.

"Yep, סליחה Rehabilitation Facility."

"סליחה" Kuroko repeated.

"Hebrew word for forgiveness. That's the entire point of this place, to show forgiveness and to teach forgiveness. The first stop to rehabilitation is getting the person to forgive themselves. After that everything can get better."

"That's ridiculous," Kuroko said, shaking her head, "a person doesn't always deserve forgiveness, and they never deserve forgiveness until the person they hurt has forgiven them."

Avon chuckled and turned around, "I used to think the same way," she said as she dug in her pocket and retrieved a small band of cloth enclosed in a glass case which she showed to Kuroko. The piece of fabric had a serial number on it with a yellow Star of David to one side with the letter "P" inside of it. Beneath the Star of David was a pink bar. "I've learned that not forgiving someone is pointless and just hurts yourself. It's like taking a poison and expecting the other person to die."

Kuroko didn't respond to that, she didn't know how. She simply followed Avon the rest of the way into the living room and sat down on the floor at the small, low table that was in the middle of the room. Avon took a seat opposite and said, "The tea will be here in a little while."

Kuroko nodded and said, "aren't you a little young to be in charge of an entire branch of the criminal justice system?"

Avon chuckled, "this coming from the 12 year old who's Chief of Intelligence."

"Thirteen year old," Kuroko huffed, annoyed both at the fact that the girl was being so condescending and the fact that she probably deserved it.

"Hehe. I'm in charge because I'm the right person for the job. I've studied all about psychology and have gotten the equivalent of a Ph.D. from the city's leading psychological institute. I'm reliable enough not to become corrupted by the position, which is very important, and I've got the right ability for the job."

"So you're an ESPer," Kuroko said, not exactly surprised.

"Yep. Level one. My ability is called "Naysay". You see, there are two types of motivation, positive and negative motivation: you either want to do something or want to avoid it. Because of this there are two main types of mind control: once again, positive and negative, that influence you either by making you want to avoid things or making you want to do it. However my version is slightly different. Rather than manipulating motivation I actually alter the neurons in the brain to make one particular action impossible to do because they literally cannot comprehend it. Because of that I can only tell people not to do things and because of the sensitive nature of the brain I can only do it for one action and i can only do it once over a person's life and can't actually lift it once I do, what I can do is include a set of modifiers so that they won't be able to do the action unless a previously programmed set of variables has been achieved."

"For example," she continued, "Say I drew a circle around a person. I could then use my ability to tell them to not step outside the circle. If I did that they would not be able to even comprehend the concept of leaving. It would be like trying to imagine what it would be like to have eyes in the back of your head. Simple yet at the same time impossible to imagine. Now the thing is that it only prevents them from leaving the circle of their own will. If someone pushed them out then they wouldn't resist. Of course because they aren't able to comprehend the possibility of themselves leaving the circle, asking for help to do so would be impossible and would only work if someone came along. If nobody did they would stand there until they died, which is why I include conditions. If I want somebody to stay for an hour put I can tell them to stay in the circle until an hour has passed."

"That sounds quite useful for a level one ability," Kuroko said, agreeing that it would be a very useful ability to have as a criminal rehabilitationist.

"Yes quite useful, though perhaps less than you think. The circle example works because it is a very particular thing they can't do. However if I told them they weren't allowed to move or be violent it wouldn't work since there are thousands of ways to move or be violent and I can't block them all. The only thing that does work on any sort of broad scale is my ability to block ability use, though that has been causing me problems recently with one particular patient because I forgot to add conditions and it turns out that she was more reliant on her power than I could have possibly imagined," Avon said with a sigh.

* * *

Kuroko was about to inquire further when the door behind Avon that lead to the kitchen opened up and another tall, busty, blond girl stepped out into the room with a confident, dignified gait. "Here's your t-" she said then suddenly stopped.

Time seemed to freeze in the room as recognition flowed through both Kuroko and this new person, The Queen. Their minds raced in their own particular paths. Kuro instantly identified 15 ways to incapacitate her before she could use her ability, 2 of which were particularly painful to befit the victim. Shiro went more for action then though as her hand immediately went down to her bands of needles, attempting to teleport them into the nerve bundles that would knock the Queen out quickly, while checking to make sure she could retrieve what she needed from her Horns if it came to that. Oddly, however, her teleportation did not seem to be working so nothing actually happened.

The Queen's brain also focused on action over thought. She dropped the tray of tea and quickly ducked down to hid behind Avon, her eyes wide, her breathing quick and frantic, her bladder just barely in control of itself.

Avon was far calmer, deftly catching the teatray without spilling a single drop and placing it on the table. "Calm down," she whispered to the terrified Queen, "we've wiped everyone's memory of that incident, even Misaka's, so you should be fine." Then Avon looked back up to Kuroko, "Forgive her, she's a bit shy. I believe you know of her, you go to the same school."

"I know exactly who she is. And if I recall correctly she was kicked out of school for attempting to murder my Onee-sama," Kuroko said with bitterness and hostility dripping from her voice, though the latter was slowly being curbed by seeing just how pitiful a state the Queen was in.

"Please don't hurt me!," the Queen whimpered, all dignity forgotten as she faced te monster from her nightmares in the flesh once again. The one that had threatened to slowly torture and kill her, the one that had made her feel scared even when her power was at full strength.

"No one is going to hurt anyone," Avon said. It was not a comfort to the Queen or a threat to Kuroko; it was a statement of absolute certainty. Avon looked at Kuroko and said, "Aleister would be very unhappy with you if you were to do anything rash..."

'_I__ don't care what the hell he thinks, she hurt_ Onee-sama _Shiro_,' both of Kuroko's halves thought simultaneously. But her teleportation wasn't working for some reason, causing her to hesitate in doing anything she might regret.

"It's strange though... Aleister told us to wipe everyone's memory of the incident, how do you remember it?" Avon asked.

"I'm essentially immune to that. My brain is too different for her to control me entirely and my memory is backed up so i can't forget things easily. So yeah... I remember everything she did to me. [1]"

Avon sighed, "That was a different time. We've been working hard and making some big improvements. Isn't that right Misaki?" she asked but the only response was a frightened whimper and panicked breathing. "Calm down Misaki, breathe slowly, in and out, in and out." she instructed the frightened girl as she turned around to face her and talk her out of this panic attack so that they could progress.

Seeing her most hated enemy in this state Kuroko was a little unsure what to think. This was not the same person that so arrogantly opposed her Onee-sama and used Kuroko's own body as a weapon to do so. The person in front of her was nothing but a scared little girl clinging to Avon like a shy child clung to its mother. It was hard to hate such a pitiful looking person and Kuroko found her anger quickly waning as Avon talked the Queen through some breathing exercises to get her to calm down.

Once she had got the Queen to calm down a bit she said, "We'll be accompanying on this next mission to the U.S."

"What..." Kuroko growled. Just because she wasn't angry or hateful didn't mean she wanted to have anything more to do with that... her mind fumbled for an appropriate expletive but gave up the search quickly.

"What!" The Queen cried simultaneously as she began hyperventilating all over again.

"She's the only one who can do it," Avon said, "if you have a problem with it talk to Aleister. Or don't go on the mission, let the president die and America declare war on Academy City leading to countless more death. It's your choice," she was getting quite frustrated by this whole thing. She thought it would be far easier. In exasperation she leaned down and kissed the Queen on the lips until several seconds later when she felt her breathing return to a normal rhythm. It was a useful shortcut but was saved for emergencies for obvious reasons.

During these several seconds Kuroko's mind worked over the problem. Of course she had to do the mission. She couldn't let someone die over a petty squabble and she knew that Aleister would only select the two of them if they were the best, or only, ones for the job.

"Fine, whatever. Just be at the airport as quickly as you can make it okay? I'd prefer not to drag this mission on any longer than it has to be," she said in a huff and left. Once outside she found she was able to teleport again and so teleported to the airbase as quickly as she could, leaving behind that distasteful place.

* * *

When she got there she saw Oneeni standing near Marshall.

"Hey there Knight De La Mancha," Marshall said, walking up to her with a grin, "you look just a little pissed... unhappy with your partner for this mission."

"Don Quixote reference... you have good taste Rochinante," Kuroko snarked back.

Marshall chuckled appreciatively at the response, "Would a nice shiny medal make you feel better?"

"I don't give a damn about medals," Kuroko yelled at him, venting some of her anger.

"How about a promotion then?" he snapped his fingers, "there, now you and Oneeni are Officer Cadets of the Academy City air force. Conveniently making you eligible to pilot experimental aircraft," He gestured over his shoulder to a large, sleek plane that had not been there a second ago, "That is the Rook Class 1 Aircraft, Seraphim. Currently the only one of its kind. You'll be flying it." He handed what looked like a music player to Kuroko, "that's the testament program for its operation, the clone's through most of it so she'll be pilot for this flight. It's a very valuable plane so don't crash it"

Kuroko's neck was hurting from that conversational whiplash, "why are we going in that if it's so valuable?"

The reason was that no other plane would be fast enough but that wasn't very fun so instead he said, "As I said, it's experimental and I'm sure not risking my own men's lives," He grinned and walked off with a wave calling back, "Have fun! Try not to think about the horrible injuries you could suffer if even the slightest thing goes wrong..."

After fuming for a minute or so Kuroko got Oneeni to go into the cockpit of the new plane before the Queen arrived. She didn't want to expose the clone to the Queen if possible. Then she stood outside and waited for the last person on earth she wanted to be in the company of.

* * *

The feeling was mutual back at the סליחה Rehabilitation Facility.

"Please don't make me go Avon, please please please," The Queen begged, "she'll kill me... she'll torture and kill me..."

"I'll be right there with you. Do you really think I'd let her hurt you?" Avon comforted the other girl, recognizing that it wasn't her fault she was being so irrationally scared. Right now her amygdala was a little sensitive and as a result her fear reactions were far greater than they should be.

Still, this was probably the best she had been ever since she was first admitted.

Avon's mind was cast back to the beginning, when she had first met the Queen. She had been seriously injured, electrical scars riddling her entire torso and her arms covered in third degree burns. Her heart was severely damaged and the only reason she was still living was probably because of Vyers stasis field.

Luckily she had a healing ESPer who allowed her to fix most of the injuries, but her torso and back still held a massive spider's web of scarred tissue.

She had thought the treatment a little harsh at the time but she had heard about the Queen and knew that she didn't deserve much sympathy. So she had been a little bit angry when she had given her her command, inflicting her with the odd starry eyes of those who were under the mind control of another. **"Would you kindly never use your power on yourself or me."** she had said. She knew that if the Queen were able to use her ability on herself she could undo the command and that would leave Avon vulnerable to control. Then she had put the incapacitation collar on her so that if she were to somehow escape from the facility she could be brought back before she could hurt someone without having to be hunted or hurt herself.

It wasn't until the next day when she began regretting that decision. It turns out that the Queen did not just use her powers to control others, she used it to control herself as well. She was constantly using it on herself to control her emotions to ensure that she was not influenced by those silly little things. She was a Queen. She was above anger, above anxiety, above sadness. She was better than those other peasants who let themselves be so influenced by their own feelings that they lost sight of the truly important things. She became a self-induced psychopath who would feel only what she wanted when she wanted it. Her brain, over time, eventually stopped producing many of its own neurochemicals since the Queen controlled it.

Of course when that had suddenly stopped, when the Queen became unable to use her power on herself, the effects of this hit full force starting with a period of severe depression from a lack of serotonin as her brain struggled to begin producing again after such a long period of inactivity. It had been so bad that the Queen couldn't even muster the will to eat. Avon had needed to feed the Queen forcibly so that she didn't die from starvation..

After that hurdle was jumped through came the problem of the Queen's frequent anxiety attacks. She had forgotten how to control her own stress levels, having relied on her power once again to do it for her. She had to be retaught methods to control herself and handle stress and anxiety, a process that was not made easy by her frequent temper tantrums or wild mood swings.

* * *

And through this entire thing Misaki had been locked in this place with only the person who put her here for company. She never got any privacy. Avon would be everywhere with her, even sleeping with her and accompanying her into the bath. She could lock any door to Avon and couldn't get any privacy.

For the first week, while the Queen had been getting over her depression, the two hadn't shared a word. The Queen had just been silently loathing the other girl when she could muster up enough motivation to do anything at all. When the depression was gone and she could muster up enough willpower to actually get out of bed she still refused to talk to her. She tried to avoid and escape her to get some privacy, making up all kinds of excuses and even threats to get a moment of privacy. When she found herself unable to do so she had turned around and screamed her lungs out at Avon.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" She had yelled, "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Avon just gave a soft, gentle smile and stepped forward, wrapping the Queen in a hug. The Queen was surprised for a second then began lashing out at Avon, hitting her in frustration even as Avon spoke to her soothingly, "No... Whether or not you want my help you need it right now. I'm here for you; I'll always be here for you when you need it, whether you want it or not."

After that the Queen had just dissolved into tears, so completely distressed and having no idea what to do. But now she knew she wasn't alone.

A week after that she had been allowed to use her powers again, this time for the greater good. She was going to be assisting Avon in the rehabilitation of criminals. With her power she could actually help soothe a person's violent impulses and help fix many psychological disorders which made a person more likely to commit crimes and were often a side effect of the Power Development Curriculum.

Once Avon had determined she was ready she had even allowed her to be powered up again, like she had been when she had fought Misaka for the second time. Since she was no longer the psychopath she had been Avon trusted her not to abuse it. The trust was well placed and she worked hard to use her powers in a constructive way, using it to help people instead of controlling them. As a result of her help the projected crime statistics for the year were half of what they would be without her.

Avon treated her kindly and their relationship grew. Now they were more roommates than warden and prisoner, though she still couldn't leave the facility without Avon accompanying her.

Now would mark the first time on a big important mission. She had been told about it beforehand, told she'd be accompanying an agent of Academy City to meet the president. Told to make a copy of the man's memories for a purpose she had not been told yet. She had been kind of excited actually. But now that she knew who she was working with she was scared, scared for her life. Her last encounter with Kuroko had been composed of supposed manipulation of the teleporter, a mental assault of that damn Misaka who the girl loved so damn much, the revelation that she couldn't actually manipulate the pigtailed girl like she thought she could, the threat of a slow and painful death, followed by an accidental strike that severely injured Kuroko. The teleporter had all the reason in the world to hate the Queen and those eyes said she wouldn't mind doing it either. To make it all worse she was completely immune to her abilities. She couldn't even wipe her memories.

* * *

Of course she could hardly say no either. So despite all of her mental anxieties she was still coerced to go to the airport, walk over to the last person in the world she wanted to be in the company of, and get in an enclosed space with her. Even worse it was an airplane and the Queen really did not like airplanes.

Her only consolations were the presence of Avon sitting next to her and the fact that the monster wasn't in the same compartment as her. That hardly meant she wasn't nervous or scared though.

"People weren't meant to fly," She said, fiddling around with her remote control, "Metal wasn't meant to fly either so why are things which were not meant to fly flying in something else that wasn't meant to fly?"

Avon stroked the Queen's hair soothingly but offered no response.

The queen looked at the screen of her remote. It was something she had gotten made for her with her fathers' money when she had joined Tokiwadai. It had a computer that could interpret the various signals that the Queen detected as part of her telepathy and display them as the appropriate images or words. Right now though there were only two people's minds she could read: The pilot's and Kuroko's. As always Kuroko's mind was extremely disjointed making a reading impossible. She had only encountered the teleporter once before the contest with Misaka. Back then her mind had been a similar way. It had really confused her at the time since she had only seen that response in people with severe schizophrenia or some other debilitating mental disease and the teleporter was obviously not suffering from any disease more severe than the insanity of wanting that damn Misaka as a friend instead of herself.

However that had made her a distinctive target and allowed her to detect and control her even from a long distance, something she couldn't do with most people because of how similar everyone's brain waves and thought patterns were.

The pilots mind was likewise unreadable, but not in the same manner. It was like she was thinking in a different language. Even more than a different language, it was like her concept of words was completely different making it impossible to relate. It was like trying to read the mind of a lion or a tiger or a bear. Their views of the world was so different that it would be impossible for a human to grasp their thoughts even if they could be read.

It was even worse since she couldn't even read her own thoughts, something that she had often done to keep herself entertained or focused back when she was able to do that kind of thing.

"I'm not feeling well," she said, feeling very nauseous all of a sudden.

Avon handed her an airsickness bag. The Queen took it and looked at it. A tear ran down her cheek as she whispered to herself, "this is not way to treat a Queen..." before vomiting into the bag.

* * *

[1]: The scene in the railgun manga where Kuroko's memories are erased is acting on Kuroko's part, but I'll go over that more in depth later, when I come to that bit.

* * *

Author's Note: This is chapter 22 of my story. Chapters 20 and 21 will be inserted later. They don't have a big enough impact on the immediate plot to worry about right now when I don't have enough motivation or ideas for them. So those two chapters will be inserted later.

Anyway here it is, the return of the Queen. As I've said before she has far too useful a power that Aleister wouldn't use her if he could. Of course she'd be on the same side of Kuroko if that happened and if I didn't reform her a little bit that would be impossible for them.

She's a little pitiful in this chapter but she'll get better as she gets better so if you're a Queen fan don't worry, The Show Will Go On.


	23. Toaru Ryokō no Okurimono

とある旅行の贈り物

Toaru Ryokō no Okurimono

A Certain Gift of Travel

* * *

August 27th, 2:00 PM (6:00 AM Japan time)

Hollywood, California

"Hello Mr. President," the famous Hollywood director Nevest Reelburg said as she shook Kuroko's hand, "It's an honor that you are attending my humble premier."

Kuroko's smile upon Roberto's face was wide and charismatic as well as completely fake as she said, "A movie about probably the greatest president this country has ever had? I wouldn't miss it for the world. A dramatic and realistic representation of a hard time in our countries history and the man who got us out of it is the perfect example of how Hollywood can have a positive effect on American culture as a whole."

The words were so artificial, written by a speechmaker and delivered by a stand in. Still the people around ate it up, giving her a massive round of applause. That was except for a lone person in the far back of the audience, a pyrokineticist who, Kuroko could see through her modified contact lenses that functioned in a manner similarly to her sunglasses with fewer uses, was heating up the air in his hands to deliver a fireball that would likely be aimed at her head. Kuroko teleported a tag onto him then rubbed her thumb and pinky fingers together, activating the Capacity Down that was on her person. It was the 7th one, the data of which had been found in the music box Jericho had given her and the last one she had discovered. The reason for this was that it could not be heard by humans and did not cause the pain that the others did.

It made an excellent Anti-ESPer tool since it took away their abilities without any sign that anything was going on, except a few howling dogs perhaps a fact that the guards had been told as the indication that an assassination attempt was occurring. From there they could identify the person and arrest them afterwards.

This was the first of many attempts on "Kuroko's" life.

* * *

August 25th, 1:00 PM (2:00 AM Japan Time)

The Oval Office

"So you're the famous black knight?" The President said as he looked upon the person who stood in front of him, "you're smaller than I expected."

Indeed the figure whom he had heard about had been exaggerated into a huge imposing person clad in armor as black as night capable of the most astounding feats of skill and strength. The person in front of him barely made it to five feet tall. Next to him was a woman in a tuxedo, fedora, and sunglasses, looking like the classic government agent, albeit one with a hat. This one was a few inches taller

The symbolism of this stark contrast was hardly lost on the president. A juxtaposition of the medieval servants of the lord's will and a more modern agent of the same, a blend of past and present, ESPer and mage.

This pair had been the cause of quite a bit of uproar, though little of that fuss was caused by the existence of the pair themselves. It was more like the four biblical horsemen, feared in their own right but even more terrifying for what they usher in.

This was the source of Roberto's apprehension. It was too convenient and timely. If it was any other time he might have suspected that it was simply Aleister ensuring the veto while simultaneously trying to curry America's favor like he had done in France and a few other countries as a bribe to encourage support of Academy City's rapid expansion as of late. But this week he had some very important things to do and allowing agents of America's rival to get so close during such important events was an incredibly ill-advised plan. Still... his intuition told him that Aleister wasn't lying when he was talking about the assassination. And if indeed he was not then these people in front of him would be his best bets for surviving the attempt. So it was best to at least give them a shot, to talk to them and try to get a feel for their feelings and motives about all of this.

"You are not the first person to comment on my size mister president," the knight said, his voice respectful but it sounded as if he was holding something back, biting his tongue about something, "but what difference does a few inches make?"

The president grinned but didn't say anything explicit. "You'd be surprised... You know I've heard quite a bit about you. You're quite the vicious combatant. Is bodyguard really the job for you?"

"Despite what you may have heard it has been and will always be my job to protect others. I don't let people die or even get hurt if I have the ability to protect them."

The man nodded. The Knight certainly seemed to be being honest, and if that were true then there was indeed no malice or ulterior motives involved her, at least not by the Knight himself. "So tell me Mr. Knight, what exactly do you know about what you're going to be doing?"

"Very little mister president. I know that I am to guard you for the 27th of August and apprehend all ESPers associated with this plot against you to bring back to Academy City. I should be done by the end of the press conference that you have scheduled for that day."

This comforted Roberto. The 27th was a day where he did not have anything planned but a party in Hollywood and a press conference. Both very good opportunities for someone to try and assassinate him but unimportant in the scheme of things. Their presence for those events would not allow for any intrusive spying. It seemed the offer was genuine, granted it was still hardly selfless on Aleister's part but politics didn't involve selfless actions to begin with. "That's right," He said, "so you should probably discuss exactly how you're going to be doing that with my head of security here. I have a meeting I need to be in." He sighed, so tired with everything. His job was far too tiring this week, he would be happy to finally go to that party in a couple days. He could really use a bit of fun.

After that Kuroko talked with the head of security and told him what Aleister had told her to say. After that she left with Oneeni and The Queen, who was using her powers of mind control to wipe her presence from the peoples mind and a bit of Academy City technological magic to wipe her presence from the cameras.

* * *

Once they were out of sight they teleported to the plane that hovered above the White House unknown to those below.

It was truly a marvelous thing the plane. It was a stealth plane meant for special operations, completely undetectable by any technology currently existing outside of Academy City and even Academy City's most advanced technology would need a while to find it.

Of course most stealth planes could still be spotted by anyone with functioning eyes if it was right there, but nt this plane. It's outside was covered in a material much like Kuroko's stealth armor, able to shift color to match what was on its opposite side so that it was undetectable by sight. But unlike her armor the plane had a far larger and more powerful computer to handle it and could make an extremely accurate projection even in broad daylight.

And that was just its stealth mechanisms. Apparently it was called Seraphim for very good reasons, as Oneeni found out when she finished listening to the instruction manual for it. Kuroko still didn't understand as she wasn't very knowledgeable about biblical matters and thus did not know that Seraphim was the highest of the hierarchy of angel's noted for their six wings that hid their bodies which would otherwise blind whoever gazed upon them.

Much like the angels of the bible this ship could blind those who gazed upon its unhidden form with one of two weapons. One being a 200 Kilowatt X-Ray laser capable of slicing through numerous buildings at a time. Unlike guns or bombs the laser was capable of both precision and destruction, able to slice through even the toughest of metals from a near unlimited distance while leaving every other building intact and not giving away the presence of the plane, since X-rays were invisible to the naked eye. When aimed at humans it could literally cut an entire division in half within seconds.

Of course Kuroko would never use it as such especially when it had another anti-personnel weapon in the form of that self-same laser set to a lower setting where it could shine light into people's eyes and either blind them or, more effectively, cause seizures in even non-epileptics at the rate of 100 a minute.

Not only that but it was an incredibly maneuverable plane capable of lifting off vertically with its omnidirectional thrusters and travelling at 7 times the speed of sound, even faster than Academy City's other hypersonic bombers and only a little slower than the fighter planes of the same classification.

They were powered with Academy City's amazingly compact and efficient fission generators that had arisen as the result of studies of atomic manipulation and force field ESPers.

It truly was the height of Academy City's technology. Even Kuroko, who had been living in the city for the past 8 years of her life, still thought that it had been extracted out of some sci-fi book, like it didn't exist in the real world.

Of course sci-fi was not the only genre that this massive hunk of metal had crawled out of, it had numerous spells woven into it. Shield spells to make it more resistant to damage, spells to lower wind resistance and let it go faster, spells to lower friction on the engines and increase their efficiency, and spells to enhance its stealth capabilities. Much like herself it was a blend of magic and science that could act as a devastating weapon against either faction.

Still despite all of its advantages it was still 30 times slower than Kuroko with the chip in her head so it was rarely useful except for its ability to carry up to ten people plus pilot and copilot in its hold. But Kuroko hoped she'd never have to deal with anyone other than Oneeni in her future missions if the alternative was the Queen.

granted she did seem to have reformed... if only slightly. But that was ridiculous. The Queen was awful, irredeemably evil. The only place she'd have the slightest chance of being nice was in Kuroko's most unrealistic dreams.

Suddenly the teleporter's eyes fell upon a large black raven perched on top of Oneeni's head without the other girl seeming to have knowledge of that fact.

"Oh yeah... I almost forgot... that's all any of this is, a hallucination... a dream," she said out loud, causing an odd look from Oneeni. She ignored it, what did she care if a delusion thought she was delusional, "of course it is. I mean it so perfectly fulfills all of my wishes I can't believe I forgot." She leaned over and rested her head on Oneeni's lap, '10,000 clones of Onee-sama, a job where I can help the world on a nightly basis, where I also happen to get hurt a lot to fulfill my idiotic persecution complex. It even has justice visited upon those I hate.'

She sighed as Oneeni began to stroke her hair, or rather as she had the delusion that Oneeni was stroking her hair. None of it was real, it was all hollow and meaningless, it was all in her head. Her happiness wasn't real, it was just a fake feeling as barren as the void.

"This world of emptiness sickens me," she said in an inverse of Kuro's own resentment.

* * *

August 26th, 11:00 PM

Windowless Building

The next night Kuroko, after another fairly brief magical session that included an unpleasant mercuric dialysis to regenerate her mana to make sure she had maximum power for the time ahead, reported to the windowless building to get the specifics of her upcoming mission.

"I was not very specific yesterday," Aleister admitted, "so I shall explain it in full. It has to do with a powerful spell called Angel Fall."

"A Grand Magic spell which replicates the power of Ma'at to bring a heavenly being to earth using the distortions of the elements caused by Laozi and Plato to confuse the names, binding it and lowering its power to a manageable level," Kuroko filled in for the slightly confused looking Oneeni.

"How is that possible, angels can't just be brought down to Earth like that," the clone signed her biblical sensibilities assigning considerable respect to the soldiers of God.

"Actually, considering the results of it, its a really simple spell. You see angels are kind of like computer programs. Moving them from heaven to earth is just like moving a program from one folder to another, at least that's what a little bird told me," Kuroko explained, far more nonchalant than usual in the knowledge that this was all a hallucination.

'A little bird,' Aleister repeated the teleporter's words in his head before continuing to speak, "correct. However this has the not so simple side effect of switching souls and appearances around. Nobody would notice any change whatsoever except those immune to its effects. However this switching, while usually random, can be prevented or even somewhat controlled in special cases. We can manipulate it so that your soul enters the president's body during the period extending from late tonight to August 30th. usually the one in command is the person to whom the apparent appearance belongs to, however your soul is in two inseparable halves which sum up to a soul and a half meaning that you would supersede bodily control."

"Why would I do that?" She asked, seeing where he was going but unable to tell for the life of her why he was going there.

He sighed, "while it is not my plan to throw you into danger with no regard for your safety it is true that you are significantly more durable than a normal person, especially with your magic which will likely be available along with your ability for the duration of Angel Fall. As able as you are as the president's bodyguard it would be impossible for you to protect him against all threats unless you were to take his place. All computer simulations of this chain of events show a 100% chance of survival," Aleister lied, "while the president only has an 11% chance if he were to try to weather all the assassination attempts himself." That one was truthful.

"I understand," Kuroko nodded, "But how am I going to run an entire country? Even if it is only for three days."

"You overestimate the importance of the President. You have a few bills that you need to veto and a few appearances you need to make. I will go into this in greater detail and then you will need to go to Number 5 and get her to implant the memories she scanned yesterday into your head so you can convincingly pass for the president and know exactly what you are supposed to do."

"So that is why she was brought along yesterday."

"Yes. I understand you two have a history. This did not prove a problem did it?"

"It did at first but then I remembered that I don't have a history with her. I have something against the real Queen but The Queen from yesterday was just a figment of my imagination just like the rest of this, so I have no reason to dislike her."

"It is good you feel this way because she will be accompanying you for the duration of your mission. As will Oneeni. They will both be guarded from the effects and instead use illusion to generate their appearances. And you will not be returning during this mission so you might wish to create an alibi. "

"Okay Aleister-sama," She nodded her head.

* * *

After that Aleister filled her in on all the necessary information then sent her on her way to the rehabilitation center. Once she was gone he spoke out again.

"You are quite insistent on meddling with my plans Aiwass."

"It's fun," the voice echoed seemingly from nowhere.

"The reason I am allowing Angel Fall to happen is for your benefit. So if you continue to interfere and ruin those plans it will be you who suffers."

Aiwass's bodiless voice held a hint of excitement as he continued, getting down to business "Kakine has been successfully awakened to stage 2 by your 'Call of Rapture' thing so he's ready for whatever you have planned for him... what do you have planned for him?"

"Kakine's status as the master of the Aeon of Isis ensures that his soul and mind will remain his own during Angel Fall so if Touma and his allies fail to defeat the angel after I have finished siphoning the necessary power from it than I will send Kakine to destroy it with his dark matter."

"Ahh, I see... since Hell aligned mass reacts like antimatter when it comes into contact with Heavenly aligned mass, Kakine, who can produce an infinite amount of hell aligned dark matter, would be a powerful anti-angel weapon... Is that all you plan on using him for though?"

"That is an important part of the plan. While the crystallized essence of the collection of all the AIM fields have created a core and consciousness for Kazakiri they are not enough to create a body. The power I siphon off from the angel is necessary."

"And once Kazakiri has a body I can manifest myself again. Oh how I long for that time to be able to walk on my own two feet."

"And he'll show up once you've manifested correct?"

"Not immediately no. He's a bit shy and very cautious so it might be a while but he will show up."

* * *

August 27th 6:37AM

Tokiwadai External Dormitories

After an exhaustive training session in preparation for probably her most ridiculous mission yet, Kuroko sat at the edge of Misaka's bed, looking at the other girl's cute sleeping face. She had been gazing for the past 12 minutes, unmoving. Of course the electromaster was hardly as motionless, constantly tossing and turning until her arms had found Kuroko's waist and clenched around it.

Kuroko smiled as she lay down flat and let her fingers trace a path up the older girl's arm, across her shoulder, up her neck and to her temple where they tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.

A short exhale followed by a whispered, "Kuroko" was all the answer she received. Of course for the teleporter that response alone was enough to make her ecstatic. She continued to gently stroke her Onee-sama's messy locks. It had been only 4 days since Aleister had manipulated that barbarous lout Touma to solve the problems that had been plaguing her Onee-sama and allowing her to actually come back each and every night so they could sleep together like always.

A sad frown played upon Kuroko's lips as her free hand clenched into a fist, 'why couldn't you have asked me to help you? Why don't you ever rely on Kuroko? Don't you love me?'

she shook her head, 'no, I can't let that worry me anymore. The important thing is that she's back.' She craned her neck to kiss the electro-masters brow, expectedly being shocked along the way but not caring. "My beloved Onee-sama," she sighed.

Misaka's eyes blinked open slowly, "Kuroko..." she said then groaned, "Kuroko you've been waking me up so early this week..."

the teleporter gave a warm smile, "sorry Onee-sama..."

The older girl sighed and stroked her roommate's long flowing hair, undone as it always was for bedtime, from its ribbons, "It's fine, don't worry," she said as the pair clung tightly to each other, "Is something wrong?" she asked, hearing the hint of something in the other girl's voice.

"This isn't a dream is it?" the teleporter asked. She knew the answer was yes but if her Onee-sama told her it wasn't then maybe, just maybe it wasn't. The electromaster was the one person she could trust enough to dispel her doubts about reality, though she could not eliminate all doubt within the teleporter's mind.

'So that's what this is about...' Misaka thought. Kuroko had been very clingy the past few days. Misaka had been gone for so long that the teleporter seemed afraid that she would float away if she let go of her for more than a few seconds. She had been getting that sense from her these past four days which is why she had continued to be tolerant of it, even when it did begin to wear on her nerves.

It was odd, however, to hear her ask so directly. Though it was not the first time of course, and her answer was the same as always. "No, it isn't Kuroko."

The younger girl's response, however, was not the usual one when told this, in fact it was completely the opposite. "Pity," she said with a sigh.

"Huh? Why is it a pity?" Confusion was apparent in the older girl's voice.

"I've been putting off telling you because I've been hoping that I didn't have to but I'm leaving today for a few days until the 30th..."

Misaka sat up in the bed looking down at the teleporter who was still hugging her despite the motion, "Huh?" she repeated, "why is that?"

"Doctor's orders," she said sitting up, "you know that psychologist I've been seeing?"

"Ah, yeah the one that Konori told you you needed to see after she found out about the Kuro thing. How is that going by the way?"

Well, he suggested that I take a few days out of Academy City to clear my mind," she lied, "so today's my last day to spend time with you before I have to leave. Since I have to wrap things up at Judgment I'd say we have until about two." she sighed... I really wish this could have been a dream."

Then Kuroko smiled and leaned forward, pushing Misaka onto her back on the bed, "so since I'll be gone I guess I should charge up on Misaka love now to fill up my batteries."

Misaka groaned, she didn't know whether to be sad or relieved that Kuroko was going to be gone for a while given how she'd been behaving. Her clinging behavior made even more sense if she had known that she was going to be going but that didn't mean it was any more welcome. She produced a stream of electricity from her temples as a warning, "that won't be the only thing you're going to be charged with if you start with your perversions this early in the morning."

Kuroko reached her hand forward into the arc of electricity that Misaka was producing. the electromaster quickly stopped the flow of sparks but not fast enough to avoid numbing Kuroko's hand.

The older girl was about to demand to know what that was about when Kuroko spoke, "The pain of being away from you is far worse than any your electricity can inflict so zap me all you want as long as you're holding me while you do it."

Misaka blushed at this and turned away. The sincerity in Kuroko's voice, as always, stunning her a little. Not because she was surprised at its presence, but rather because she never knew how to react to it. Luckily some part of her seemed to know just what to do, unfortunately it was not her brain but rather her stomach, which gave out a loud rumble of hunger.

Kuroko giggle and stood up, "shall I prepare breakfast for you my hungry Onee-sama?"

Misaka blushed again, "please," she said as she went to the bathroom to get ready as Kuroko began making a meal for the two of them.

* * *

After that they ate with Kuroko, of course, trying to feed Misaka. She decided to allow it but drew the line at Kuroko sitting on her lap while doing it until about halfway into the meal when she managed to worm her way onto the electromaster's lap regardless of permission and Misaka just decided to forget it for now. After that Kuroko tried to stall the time when she would need to get off this soft throne that was her Onee-sama's lap.

Misaka was willing to bear with the fairly tame show of affection until Kuroko's hand began to wander to places where they really shouldn't have. After that she pushed the other girl off and stood up, "boundaries," she reminded the teleporter.

Kuroko stood up and dusted herself off, "sorry Onee-sama."

"Just remember it for next time..." she sighed despite knowing that it was futile to remind the teleporter. It wasn't that she didn't listen it was just that each time she did it she seemed to honestly believe that this time she would be allowed to. "Want to go out for a bit?" she offered.

"A romantic walk in the park?" Kuroko chirped hopefully.

Misaka sighed, "I was thinking something more like the arcade."

Now it was Kuroko's turn to sigh, "Onee-sama you know how our trips to the arcade always go. We play for about half an hour then you challenge me to that game and you always lose yet keep challenging me to rematch after rematch until you end up frying the machine."

"You suck at games how do you always win at that one?" The older girl bristled.

"It's a fighting game all about reflex and timing attacks. I don't play video games but I've been honing my battle skills for the past several years," Kuroko explained, "but that's beside the point, you're already getting angry."

Misaka took a deep breath, realizing that it was a pretty silly thing to get upset about. "fine," she agreed, "we'll go to the park."

"Can we hold hands?"

"Buy me a crepe and we'll see..." she said as she went over to the door to wait for the still pajama-clad Kuroko to get ready. Then the pair left.

When they got to the crepe stand near the park Kuroko told Misaka to go and take a seat at the bench around the corner so she could get her her crepe. Misaka obliged and Kuroko took a slight detour, teleporting into a nearby alley behind a young man dressed in a cream colored suit. Though the form seemed to be of the grandson of Tokiwadai, Unabara Mitsuki, there was an illusion spell that Kuroko could faintly detect with the ninja armband that, in her ever paranoid manner, she tended to wear constantly just to be sure that the people around her were actually who they claimed to be. She had noticed that this person had been following them from some time and given that Misaka had been acting a bit paranoid herself the past few days she guessed that this had been going on since before today.

She tapped him on the shoulder and, as he turned around, she grabbed his arm. "I don't know who you are but I suggest you leave Misaka-Onee-sama alone," She twisted his arm to pop the shoulder out of his joint, "or else next time I'll do worse than simply dislocating your arm." She then teleported him several meters away in another alley above a dumpster and went to the crepe stand to order a crepe for her Onee-sama, not getting one for herself since that always seemed to ensure that her "indirect kiss" plan didn't work out... though that plan was hardly necessary at this state in their relationship.

After that they went on a nice romantic walk in the park, while holding hands much to Kuroko's delight, and did a few more things around town. After that she just had one more thing to do.

* * *

August 27th 1:59 PM

Judgment Branch 177 Headquarters

"You're surprisingly close to late today Kuroko," Konori said, not disapprovingly though, just surprised that Uiharu had been the first to come in.

"Sorry," Kuroko apologized regardless before moving on to her main point, "I need to talk to you about something."

"What is it," the older girl asked, now slightly concerned.

"Well the doctor says that I need to take some time off and out of the city so I was wondering if I could have the next three days off."

"Sure thing, when do you need them?"

"4."

"The fourth? That should be fine."

"No... Four o' clock."

Konori was taken aback by this, "This is sudden."

"Well I've known for a few days... I guess it's just slipped my mind..."

For a second Konori hesitated to believe this but then she realized that the teleporter wasn't actually the best at planning things like this out. She reasoned that it wasn't too unlikely to consider. And considering that the teleporter was one of those workaholic types who hated vacations it might have been a deliberate or just subconscious move to try and deny its existence. "Well it's not like we're too busy... it's just a bit sudden."

"Sorry about that," Kuroko repeated.

"Hey hey," Saten said, overhearing the conversation and eager to join, "where are you going on this vacation?"

"America," she said.

"Wow really! That's awesome," she nudged Uiharu, "Rich girls have all the luck don't they?"

"That is cool," Uiharu said, both excited for Kuroko and yet sad that she was going to be leaving. "Be sure to tell us all about it when you get back."

"And bring souvenirs," Saten said jokingly.

"If I can find time in between all the relaxing I'll be doing," she said sarcastically. Earning a laugh or two from her friends.

"But two vacations out of city in only a few months," Uiharu said, "that really is lucky. Isn't it really hard to get out of the city passes?"

"Yeah lucky..." Kuroko sighed, contempt in her voice. Uiharu guessed that this was because, as Konori thought as well, Kuroko was the type who saw vacations as more stressful than the work they were taking a break from. She'd love a vacation out of the city but Kuroko hated it and yet got to go on so many more than Uiharu did. It was actually a little unfair.

In actuality Kuroko was sighing so contemptuously because her vacations were never actually vacations. She'd love to go on vacation for a while with her friends and her Onee-sama. She'd love to visit the shores of Hawaii and sit on the beach holding hands with the electromaster as the sun set over the ocean drinking out of a coconut before heading back to the room they shared and...

"Anyway I'll be sure to bring you back some souvenirs that I'm sure you'll like." She said with a smile to her friends before getting back to work.

* * *

August 27th, 2:26 PM (6:26 AM Japan time)

Hollywood, California

Kuroko wandered around the Hollywood party, talking with people, shaking hands, all the normal things that the president did during their main job as public figurehead and media icon. During one notable encounter with a seemingly random person her hand had begun to feel extremely cold extremely quickly. She guessed that this person was a cryokineticist and so simply activated the capacity down, not faltering at all as she finished shaking and moved on, confusing the person terribly.

It was then that she saw a slightly familiar face amongst the many gathered there. The man was a Japanese actor, and a very famous one at that. His most notable role was his voice acting of the child's cartoon character, Gekota.

The words from the conversation with Saten came back to her and she had a brilliant Idea. She walked over to the actor and shook his hand, exchanging the usual formalities before making a request. "One of my secret service has a daughter who loves your work. If you wouldn't mind could I ask you to sign an autograph for her?"

"It would be my pleasure," he said taking out a picture and a pen, "what is her name?"

"Misaka Mikoto."

* * *

Author's Note: I've been doing a lot of work on this fanfic over the past couple weeks, the problem was that not much of it was on this chapter. I'm working on chapters 20 and 21, as well as quite a bit of future material and extra stuff. I was thinking of writing character songs for some of the important people like Kuro and Oneeni, maybe Aleister too but I'd need to be careful not to ruin too much in his one...

Oneeni's character song (one of them at least, I'm thinking of writing two for her, maybe a duet?) should be done soon so I could release it in my next chapter if you'd like... toss me a review if you'd like to see that or if you wouldn't. Any reviews are appreciated.

Anyway you'll see the fruits of my labor soon enough and since I'll be going on vacation soon the speed of my updates should increase a lot. I should be getting out several chapters within the next three weeks, so look forward to that.

* * *

Dedications:I'd like to dedicate this chapter to those people, too numerous to name, who have Favorited and Followed my stories and/or me as a writer.

* * *

Coming Soon: Shattered world and broken dreams, a sister's betrayal.


	24. Toaru Fuhyō no Chiryō

とある歩兵の昇格

Toaru Fuhyō no Chiryō

A Certain Promotion of the Pawn

* * *

Kuroko sighed as she stepped down from the elevated podium after finishing her speech. She was immediately approached by her secretary who told her that he had half an hour of free time before his next appointment. She almost rolled her eyes at that since she knew she had no such thing and her appointment was simply off the books. She had not had a second of free time since coming over to this country. Though this fact was probably to be expected since she was the president, still the degree to which she was pressed for time was ridiculous. She even had appointments through the night for these three days, meaning she would have no time to sleep, not that she wasn't used to that.

"Thank you," was the only thing she verbalized however, adding a polite and kind smile that made the secretary blush slightly given the relative attractiveness of Kuroko's borrowed appearance. After that she turned and walked up the long walk that lead to the white house that was her prison for the next couple days.

As she walked the head of security approached her. "It seems that the Black Knight came through for us. Though our AIM Field detection technology is limited all of those that have been tagged by him have shown evidence of being ESPers.

"Indeed," she said, "There were a couple of close calls but all of them seemed to be stopped before anything could happen." This was of course a lie. She had suffered multiple injuries, none of which were overly visible but all of which still existed. Luckily her durability and regeneration had healed her up completely by this time.

"Now all we have to do is go and meet with him and this whole mess will be over," The head of security said with a sigh of relief. Kuroko joined him in this sigh, but more out of despair than relief. It wasn't over for her, not yet.

* * *

She walked into the oval office and sat at "her" desk. She was soon joined by the image of the Black Knight kneeling in front of her.

Of course this knight was not real, rather it was an illusion produced by the Queen. Since she was immune to the Queen's memory erasure and, to some degree, mind control, it was assumed by the Queen and her handler, Avon, that she would be immune to the illusion too, so the script had been worked out beforehand. Signals from the invisible Queen would tell her when she should move on to the next line since it was assumed she could not hear the illusion talk and could see the Queen. This was not true however and she fell victim to the illusions as easily as anyone else. Unlike the split memories and split mind, her perceptions were the same between Kuro and Shiro so the dual mindedness did not help her at all to be immune.

Not that she would let the Queen know this information. Despite the fact that she knew that this Queen was a product of her deranged imagination, she would prefer the imagined level five to believe that nothing she could do would have any effect on her rather than having the knowledge that she could still control something as powerful as the teleporter's perceptions. Or maybe she already knew and she was the one producing all these hallucinations... but if that were true then what would be the point? It was better to proceed with the assumption that at least her madness was her own.

Either way she went along with the conversation as it had been planned.

"Good work," she said with a nod, "All of them were rounded up. This is the end of our association correct?"

"Yes," was the response from the illusion, "though we do need to talk about the apprehended ESPers. In accordance to the International Treaty regarding Persons of Unnatural Destructive Abilities we would like to have them extradited to Academy City to face punishment."

Kuroko hesitated for a second as if waiting for a signal she couldn't see then began to speak, "Oh yes. Of course. We shall send the eight of them to your city right away."

"There were nine," the "Black Knight" corrected, "Please do not try to trick us. We are not that foolish."

"Perish the thought; I am simply getting a bit forgetful. It has been a long day you see," she said innocently.

"If that is the case then I apologize for the accusation. I shall be leaving now. Another agent has been sent to oversee the extradition. She will be here shortly so for now I shall be taking my leave." The image vanished.

She looked over to the head of security. "Sweep the room for surveillance bugs as per usual procedure before the next agent arrives, while this does show that Academy City is not as much of an enemy as we thought they are still rivals."

"Yes mister president," he said obediently and began to search as instructed. This order was, of course, given as a cover since it was what the normal president would do. If she wanted to know what was being said in this office in the next three days she could listen. Of course she had refused to use her position to spy on the American government. She had only adopted this position so she could protect the real president, she would not use it to gather secrets. Unless of course such an action was necessary to protect lives or something similar.

Not that she needed to agree in order for Aleister to use her. Her armor was not just for show after all. In addition to providing a bit of extra protection and a method of control if necessary it also functioned as a producer of UNDER_LINE machines which, while outdated within Academy City, were an excellent way of gathering information about foreign places since they were completely undetectable and information could be gathered remotely by a special satellite Academy City had in orbit.

Only in two cases had she accepted using her adopted body to infiltrate a place, and only because they had stolen something from Academy City to begin with. The first would be coming up in five, four, three, two, one...

"Mister president," the head of security said after completing the bug sweep, "We have taken samples from the captured ESPers. They are in the usual place waiting to be sent to the laboratory. Perhaps now we can actually create some of our own."

"I would like to do a personal visit and see them for myself before they are shipped off," She said.

"Of course mister president, the guards will be informed of your visit shortly. Would you like to take care of this before or during the inspection of Project MaP?" The man asked.

This Project MaP was actually the second thing she had agreed to, but that was tomorrow that she was supposed to be handling that. This needed to be handled immediately. "Before actually. As soon as the meeting with the agent is done. Project Stargate has been too long delayed for us to act slowly."

"Of course mister President," he agreed.

It took about thirty more seconds for the agent to appear, this time actually walking through the door. While the agent appeared to be a middle aged man it was simply an illusion placed over Oneeni who had just arrived from Academy City to deliver something to her.

"Ah, hello there," Kuroko said, for once not needing to fake her happy tone as she shook her hand, palming the vials that the clone had stayed to receive and deliver.

Kuroko had been told that the only thing that needed to be replaced in order to prevent the American's from learning anything important was the blood. For some odd reason something in the blood provided a clue how ESPers could be replicated. Kuroko didn't really understand her orders, but that didn't stop her from following them. So she stored the vials in her horn of Gabriel and directed Oneeni to the head of security who left the room with her to deal with the ESPer assassins.

* * *

Once the room was empty the Queen flickered into visibility on the couch. Unlike Kuroko she was not used to such a high degree of movement and activity and the strain was evidenced by the bags that were forming under her eyes and the clear exhaustion that she seemed to be dealing with.

Kuroko looked at her and the Queen looked back. The change in the teleporter's appearance both unnerved the level five and, at the same time, put her at ease. It was not the same face that haunted her and it was actually quite a handsome face, though not her type at all. So while she averted her eyes a little bit under the gaze it did not terrify her like it did before. Nor did it make her as scared as she thought it would considering Avon wasn't here to protect and comfort her.

"You've been doing a really good job so far," Kuroko said with an appreciative nod, "I was a little wary at first but it seems like you really have changed."

The Queen now met the gaze of Kuroko, surprised to hear these words coming from her. It was a strange feeling that the words aroused... a mixture of pride and a bit of embarrassment at the compliment. When she looked back on how she had been during the incident with Misaka her actions had been horrifying and shameful to her. She honestly wanted to change into someone who did something good for the world, who Avon would be proud of. Avon had been praising her for a while now but hearing it from Kuroko, the person who she hurt most back then and who hated her most even now... it was significant.

She blushed and averted her eyes for an entirely different reason as she spoke in a whisper, "I'm sorry... for what I did back then... It was... horrible I know. But I'm a different person now, I'm a better person. I-ahhh," she began but her sentence was interrupted by a wide nod.

Kuroko chuckled, "I know. You're a different person now aren't you. You've done a good job following orders but I won't need you for a little while so why don't you get a little rest."

The Queen nodded and left the room after Kuroko who began the short trek down to the room where the vials were being kept. She was, of course, welcomed with respect. The authority and respect she wielded was actually getting to her a little bit. She was usually haughty and arrogant but now it was even worse, the arrogance only kept from her tone by constant reminders that she needed to remain in character.

* * *

"Hello there, I came to examine the samples before they're sent off. We've been waiting for this for a long time now you know," she said to the guards.

"That should be fine," they replied with a nod and stepped aside.

Kuroko stepped forward and ran her hands over the vials slowly. Each one she touched was immediately and unnoticeably replaced with the previously stored copies. "Let's hope something actually comes out of these things eh?" she said, while hoping for the direct inverse. From what little she knew about America beforehand and all that she had learned (or at least had implanted) about America during this venture, she somewhat doubted they could be trusted with anything as powerful as ESPers.

"Yes sir," the guards responded, none the wiser.

After that Kuroko returned to her office for her next meeting, before deciding to make one more detour along the way.

* * *

The Queen stood in an unused guest bedroom nearby that was to be her quarters for this mission. She stood in front of a mirror as she undid her shirt and threw it onto the bed. She looked at the branching scar that ran along her entire chest and back.

Her breathing quickened as her mind played back the scene, the flash of light, the smell of ozone, the deafening crash of thunder, the heat and pain.

Perhaps it was an understatement to say that she had gone through a bad period back then, to have caused such suffering to those two for such petty reasons as jealousy and resentment. These scars served as a reminder of what she had done, as well as the payment that karma would met out in return for such horrible actions.

But as always, she continued to hyperventilate as the weight of that past crashed down on her and the memories it brought flashed in her mind far far too vividly. She scrambled for her remote control as pressed the buttons furiously. She longed for the escape route that she had once had. The ability to wipe all those unpleasant memories from her head, the ability to escape from the past and all the unpleasantness it brought.

But of course the screen was black, unable to be used on herself any longer.

In panic and frustration she began to smash the remote against her vanity until she felt a hand clasp around her wrist. She remembered now that she had forgotten to mask her presence and turned to this person who grabbed her in a panic, readying her ability. Then she saw that it was "the president" who looked down at her with a mix o confusion, exasperation, and perhaps the tiniest bit of concern.

"Stop acting like an idiot," Kuroko told her, "You're annoying when you're arrogant but don't lose all your dignity to such a degree that you go smashing things while naked like a caveman."

Her frustration spiked as she ripped her arm out of Kuroko's grasp and took a step back, shooting a glare towards her, "How dare you call me that, I am the fifth ranked level five and The Queen of Tokiwadai."

Kuroko considered things for a second, "I suppose even that arrogance is better than your pitiful behavior up to this point."

The Queen practically growled as she tossed the remote at Kuroko but it bounced harmlessly off of her chest, earning a sigh from the annoyed teleporter as the Queen clenched her hands into fists, her breathing now slow and heavy in complete contrast to what it had been earlier.

The next moment she felt something touching her and saw that Kuroko was standing right in front of her. She froze, her anger going immediately back into fright at the possibility that she had angered the other girl.

"Even considering what you did and who you are this is a surprisingly harsh shock for Onee-sama, usually she is more gently even with the most undeserving of scum. I guess she was really angry at the time," Kuroko mused as she looked at the scarring. She had such extensive experience with the matter that she could tell a lot by these seemingly random markings. Considering how dense they were around her heart it really should have killed her. It would have taken an exceptionally skilled healing ESPer to have been able to fix this so quickly. She briefly thought that it could be Heaven Canceller but he could heal without scarring which even the best healing ESPers couldn't do.

Kuroko placed a small tube of ointment into The Queen's hands, "Here. It's for the scarring. I've suffered more than my share in my time so I can tell you it works quite well." With that she turned around and began to leave the room, too busy to tarry here any longer.

The Queen stood there, shocked at this surprisingly kind gesture, wondering where the monster from her nightmares had gone. Then she heard Kuroko say one final thing from the doorway.

"You know, Onee-sama always wondered how a middle-schooler could have such a generous chest... I think she'd be happy to hear that they were pads..." She said with a chuckle and a smirk.

The Queen blushed the deepest shade of red as she realized that she had been topless this entire time. She immediately threw the thing of ointment at Kuroko in anger but she had retreated behind the doorway by this time so it did nothing.

* * *

Back in the oval office Kuroko began the very familiar task that was the unending monotony of paperwork as she waited for her incoming appointment with the Secretary of State discussing the upcoming United Nations summit that would be happening in the next two days.

"Given their newest movements the subject of Academy City may come up but many countries are still disregarding it as too small to cause any sort of disturbance. The other members of the big five, minus china, seem to be quite apprehensive about it given the imminent war, which may come up in more private discussions but of course won't be a big part of the conversation." The Secretary filled in for her.

"Disregarding them and this whole mess is the best option," she regurgitated Roberto's stance on the matter, "Whether they win or lose a rival of ours is knocked out of the race. Might as well exploit them for everything while we can though."

"Yes... Mister president is planning on vetoing the bill tomorrow correct? The one regarding our trade with Academy City."

"I'd be a fool not to, it hurts us far more than it hurts them. Even if public opinion is against me."

"Of course sir, I agree. I shall go continue the preparation then."

Kuroko nodded at him as he left. When he was out she looked at the clock and saw that they had finished up early, meaning he had several minutes until the next secretary of something or other -transport if she recalled correctly- began blabbing in her ear.

She looked over at Oneeni who stood in the corner. Given her normal appearance all the disguise she had needed was a few inches added to her height and a few taken away from her chest to mimic, closely enough, the appearance of the secret service agent she was mimicking.

"You all right?" Kuroko asked her.

She glanced in Kuroko's direction and took a notepad out of her pocket and began writing. When she was finished she passed it on to Kuroko.

"You're ugly," It read, "that form is so unlike your usual quite pretty form. The dissonance between what i know is inside and what I see is very grating. I want you to be in your own pretty body again."

Below that, broken up by a blank line, was written more, "Also i don't like having to take my hat off like I have to for these ceremonies. I like my hat..."

Kuroko looked up at the clone and smiled at her, "I like your hat too... and don't worry, I'll be back in a couple of days, I promise."

the clone signed the words "long time" to her.

Kuroko considered it, "well there's nothing I can do about it... I'm afraid." then she was struck by inspiration, "actually... when I can't see Onee-sama for a long time I keep a picture of her with me. Would that help you?"

An eager nod followed and Kuroko handed her camera to Oneeni, "I take quite a few but you might have to search for a while before you find one of me in there... actually just sync it up to your glasses. The next person will be coming in soon and it would look odd if you were staring at a camera screen while the meeting was going on."

The clone did what she was told and her nervousness quickly seemed to vanish as she stood there, seemingly glued to the spot as she scrolled very slowly through the pictures, lingering on several. Kuroko chuckled at the clone's somewhat odd pair of worries as she focused again on the work at hand.

* * *

Several more meetings and little other tasks followed as she did "her" job of being the President of the United States. It was quite tedious at times but the power and respect that came with the position was enough to make Kuroko feel alive even as she was forced to sit through paperwork. In Judgment the paperwork couldn't really affect anything, but a single signature from her right now could change thousands of lives.

Kuroko was hardly incorruptible and power always made her feel just a little bit giddy. It was not the most positive trait a Judgment member could possess but it balanced out quite well with her powerful sense of justice as well as her complete selflessness. Of course she still ended up letting the power go to her head but at least it didn't affect things too much.

Right now her reins were her orders as well as the numerous safeguards in place to limit the president's power, but neither of those stopped the adrenaline that ran through her with every decision she made that could affect so many people's lives.

* * *

That feeling kept her running through the night as she worked tirelessly in preparation for the various happenings that were fast approaching. This continued until 5:37 AM when she had finally finished "her" backlog of work and no more meetings would be taking place until 6:00. She found herself alone in the room. Oneeni had excused herself a while ago, probably to touch up her appearance or something similar and the Queen was still asleep, recovering from her exertions of the day and resting up for the exertions to follow.

Though to say the room was empty was, as usual, not entirely accurate. She glanced over and asked the other occupant, "so what's the news?"

"**It seems that the spell summoned Gabriel, though the poor thing thinks he's Michael. Power is roughly 0.09% of full angelic form and dropping slightly as power is absorbed. Side effects do not seem to affect people with sufficient protection and only half affect those with slightly lower levels, such as those of Buckingham palace or the Vatican."**

Kuroko sighed, "Who cast this dumb spell anyway."

"**Unimportant as the caster only did so unintentionally as he was manipulated by your boss, Aleister Crowley. He's attempting to absorb some of the angel's energy for purposes that even I cannot fathom."**

"Well good luck to him with that," she dismissed the distasteful knowledge as Oneeni came walking back into the room, indeed looking quite fresh, "Welcome back. How are you feeling?"

Oneeni looked at her then took out the memo pad and began to write for a much longer time than before. When she was done the clone handed her the note.

"I'm good. I looked through all the pictures, only one featured you. A particularly provocative one with you in a negligee attempting to look sexy. You weren't very successful. You were trying too hard to look appealing in it and the outfit you wore didn't suit you in either color or style. Your pose tried to emphasize a chest you don't have rather than your much more positive attributes such as your legs. I did like the fact that your hair was down however and it was so nice to see the real you again."

"Also, you are quite talented with a camera. The photos of Misaka Mikoto show excellent composition. you select just the right moment for the natural shots to capture her best features. I especially liked the framing of the second and fifth shower shots and..."

Kuroko began hitting her head against the desk at this int so she did not know how the rest of the note went. She had forgotten that that camera had all her photos of Misaka on it, as well as the one she had taken of herself for Misaka (just in case...). Had Oneeni really gone through every one?

She glanced back at the piece of paper to check, "wow... these are some... detailed analyses..." She said, halfway between ashamed and frankly impressed. Her deep deep **deep** love for her Onee-sama had led to an obsession that she thought was unmatchable but looking at some of the notes that Oneeni had scrawled she could tell that the clone's eye for even the smallest details regarding Misaka could actually rival the teleporter's own.

Kuroko, despite her many times deep love for the level five electromaster, could still not claim the sort of closeness that Oneeni had with Misaka. For years Misaka and her likeness had been the shepherd's world. Every feature was carved forever into her mind. The clone loved every inch of Misaka Mikoto as passionately as Shiro and yet hated her as deeply as Kuro.

Like her reflection in a mirror she was constantly conflicted between admiring the beauty that she beheld and smashing it to pieces for all the trouble it had brought.

It just so happened that her admiration beat out her anger today allowing her to truly admire the countless pictures of the original, in all her flawed perfection, that Kuroko had provided.

Kuroko, perhaps uniquely, was not at all disturbed by this fact, understanding more than anyone else how perfect her Onee-sama and how foolish anyone would be to not fall for her. So she simply carried on with her business without so much as a question or raised eyebrow.

* * *

At 9:00AM the bill that she was to veto arrived and she did what she needed to do. After that she had a few more pieces of legislature to sign. After that several more tasks passed until it was time for her next piece of significant business, visiting the lab to view this Project MaP.

The name of the project, MaP was actually a bit misleading, purposely so of course. The name would hint at it being some sort of surveillance equipment but it was actually an acronym which stood for Marie and Pierre after the famous couple that discovered radium and radioactivity and rather than being any sort of surveillance equipment it was actually a piece of weapons technology.

"You see," the head scientist began as the trio (actually a quartet since The Queen was nearby, hidden by illusion) of he, "The President", and "the president's bodyguard", stood in the room awaiting his explanation, "using the material composition technology that we obtained from Academy City we have managed to make a compound which can resist nuclear explosions at even point blank range. Using it we have built this powerful gun which uses a small amount of plutonium to accelerate a tungsten projectile to unimaginable speeds. It is quite capable of destroying any building or ship which it is aimed at. And since it isn't self-powered many magical defenses would be useless against it while the rest would be completely destroyed by it, even the strongest barriers. And because it is such a strong and light material, the entire thing weighs less than a quarter of a ton despite its ability to weather nuclear explosions happening inside of it, we thought it would be easy enough to mount on a weapons platform. The problem is this..." He said as he turned towards the monitor and turned it on. "This is the first test when we mounted it on a tank."

"Test number one for project MaP. Mounted on an M-1 Abrams tank, firing single 10 pound tungsten round at concrete bunker 3 miles away. Countdown initiated: five... four... three... two... one... fire."

The next second a massive explosion sounded and the tank disappeared in a cloud of smoke and fire and dust, but there was no crater where it had been or any wreckage of the tank to suggest that it had been blown apart in any manner other than complete vaporization.

"This is the test slowed down with the high speed camera," the scientist said as he pressed another button and the tank was there again. Suddenly a small mushroom cloud burst out of the barrel and a dark grey projectile was shot out at amazing speed. However the tank also shot backwards at an equally amazing speed, tumbling off shot as if it were nothing but a can that had been kicked by a soccer champion.

"The tank was utterly destroyed when it collided with a reinforced concrete bunker further down the range which was also destroyed. The projectile hit and destroyed its target better than we could have imagined, boring through it into the earth behind it creating a large crater. After that we continued to experiment with smaller fuel sources and smaller projectiles until we came up with this model which is half the size and weight and about a tenth of the power but it's still too powerful. Any less and we wouldn't have enough to start the reaction."

"We've tried it on satellites and ships hoping that they would be better suited for the task but satellites are knocked out of orbit by the blast and any time we attach it to a ship it tears free from its rigging and flies backwards. Honestly we're lucky nobody has died but this is going nowhere. The material is too expensive to build an entire ship out of but nothing else can handle the power of it without causing as much damage to its rigging as to any target. I'm afraid Sir Isaac Newton is kicking our asses once again."

"So the project has stalled?" Kuroko asked.

"Of course not mister president. It seems you underestimate your scientists once again. We have come up with several solutions to this problem which we are currently working on. One such example would be just shoving it into a mountain. It would hinder mobility but if it is transported along with a digging machine then it could still be deployed in field. Other solutions would render it less reusable but more deployable. Such as the plan to drop it out of an airplane before firing. Then it can fly wherever it wants. Depending on how high the plane is it can then be recovered either by ground troops, another plane, or a satellite. Of course these need to go through some tests before that happens." He said before rapping on the tubes with his knuckles.

Kuroko nodded and looked at these tubes, "Can I see the specs for these things?"

"Sure thing," the scientist said as he went to the table he had placed his clipboard onto, "here you go."

"Hmm..." Kuroko said scanning the clipboard, "There seems to be a miscount. There are only 3 of these things here," she stated and her hands fell upon one of the crates of ammunition and fuel, "and only 7 of these," she said as the crate disappeared from sight.

The scientist was extremely confused as to what he had just seen. Then the confusion was gone with his memory of having seen that in the first place, "Oh, must be an error," he said as he looked and confirmed that there were indeed one less crate of ammunition and one less weapon than the sheet said there had been.

* * *

As far as Kuroko was concerned his was the end of her mission. It was one thing stealing back information or technology that was stolen from you, it was quite another to initiate the stealing of information and technology.

However Aleister had different plans. The Queen had orders that even Kuroko, her superior in regards to the mission, did not know about. She used her powers to scan the minds and memories of the scientists using her power augmented by the magical glow that she was gifted with for particularly difficult jobs. She transferred the information, using her remote, to the computer of Seraphim, which hovered several hundred feet above them, which in turn sent it to Academy City. She had been doing this since her arrival here. Her power made her one of the greatest spies possible, capable of flawlessly extracting secrets, manipulating enemy targets, and disguising herself perfectly. Only a few select people and places were heavily guarded against with anti-illusion magic and technology, such as the UN summit, to protect against her.

America calling itself a rival of Academy City was like an army of cavemen considering a tank a worthy foe in The Queen's opinion but even a cursory glance through the minds of these scientists showed many projects that could actually begin to rival the technological might of even such an advanced city as hers. But with her there to ensure that any particularly inventive idea was extracted she could ensure that the cavemen would not discover anti-tank rifles before the tank came up with armor to block it.

More so than the illusions this is what had been tiring her out. So much sifting through people's minds for relevant information, it was maddeningly tedious. Still orders were orders and she decided that whoever had the ability to order around the creature of her nightmares was not someone she wanted to disobey herself.

* * *

So the trio of secret agents continued their tour through the facility, one content with a job well done the other suffering a job yet to do, the last haunted by the laboratory's metal walls that so reminded her of a past she wished to forget (along with the annoyance that her manicure was wearing down despite the lack of combat in the past couple days).

When the finally got to the car and they settled in the back seat the other two almost immediately collapsed in exhaustion, falling asleep and resting their heads against Kuroko who sat in the middle reading over the papers she had been handed on her way in.

She allowed herself only a moment to ponder just how she had gotten into this situation before shaking her head and getting back to work. There was still one more day left before she was done after all, she had no time to slow down.

* * *

Author's Note: As it turns out a vacation does not guarantee free time. I was actually quite bogged down which is why this took so long to come out, and I have to say it might be a little boring considering the wait... mostly exposition and politics. But that's how it goes. I made sure to include some character development for The Queen and a nice bit with Oneeni to tide people over. This is the second to last part of the Angel Fall arc and the next chapter will only be about half dealing with wrapping it up. After that... well since Kuroko is part of the Kazakiri arc I can't really meddle with that so I'll pretty much be skipping that. I might go back and write the rest of 21 and 22 then post them as well, but we'll have to see. I promise I won't give up this story but it might continue to be a bit slow until I have some free time again, lord knows when that will be...


	25. Toaru Omake no Sho

とあるおまけの章

Toaru Omake no Sho

A Certain Chapter of Bonuses

* * *

**This is a chapter of Omakes, little side stories. None of the stories have much if any relevance to the plot but some of them are quite fun to read. If you have any ideas for an omake just leave me a comment or send a PM. I'll keep on updating this chapter so check back often, though I'll usually leave a note in the newest chapter saying there's been an addition.**

* * *

Omake #1 (added July 18th, 2013)

とあるクロのクローン

Toaru Kuro no Kurōn

A Certain Kuro's Clone

Oneeni sat at her vanity, doing her hair in preparation of Kuro's arrival. She had always been attentive to her appearance before, to what many might call an "excessive degree", but it had always been for her own sake. Her narcissism was her motivation, it always had been. But right now the thought in her mind wasn't "do I look good enough" like it always had been, it was "do I look good enough for her?"

For her entire life, however short that was, she had always done things for other people exclusively. She would risk her life to run after her mentor's book just because he told her to always keep it safe and trusted her to do so. She would risk her life for any of the clones because she looked after them, and they trusted her to take care of them.

But the only person she had ever wanted to look good for was herself. Nobody else cared and nobody else's opinion on how she looked mattered to her. That was, until she met Kuro.

She didn't know why it happened or when it happened, but she now found herself wondering if Kuro would like this hairdo or that dress, rather than wondering whether she would look good in it.

'What are these feelings?' She wondered as she brushed her hair, too lost in her own thoughts to notice the door opening or someone else's presence until a pair of scrawny, familiar arms wrapped around her.

_"Está más allá de toda controversia que lo que más cuesta es, y debe ser, más valorado," _Kuro said in a foreign language, speaking in her ever flat manner with a hint of tiredness to her voice, _Es por Dulcinea, mi princesa, que me atrevo a continuar, por ella peleo contra gigantes y ejércitos de la tierra"._

Any attempt to communicate back and ask her what the words meant would mean she would need to interrupt this wonderful grip she found herself held in. So she was silent as Kuro sighed and continued. "_It is so silly to court a delusion... but better a fictional princess than a real live dragon."_ the girl said and grabbed the clone's hand, pulling her up, "_Shiro is suffering a Misaka deficiency so we're going on a date."_

What?! Kuro, you can't be serious. Sure I miss Onee-sama but as I've said before oneeni isn't the same person. Going on a date is cheating. Ju-

Shiro's protests were cut short when Oneeni wrenched her hand from Kuro's grip, eyes wide and a slight look of what could be called, at a stretch, horror on her face. The clone shook her head and signed, "no. I can't."

The moment the signs left her hands there was a flash of hurt, actual hurt, in Kuro's eyes before it was extinguished. She had never seen the stoic girl show any sort of pain so immediately she knew that her "words" must have cut deep.

"_I'm sorry for being so presumptuous then,"_ Kuro said in the same monotone as any other time as she turned around and began to leave. Kuro... Shiro said, amazed and worried that the ever emotionless Kuro had been put into this state by just a few words from someone other than her. "_Sorry to bother you..."_

Oneeni reached back, grabbing her shepherds crook and looping the end around Kuro's neck, catching her before she left. She then grabbed one of the many magazines that were open on the desk part of the vanity. She tugged backwards on the crook, and took a step forward, wrapping her arm around the smaller girls shoulders. She flipped through the magazine until she arrived at the page she wanted, then showed it to Kuro and pointed at the title.

"Things to do to ensure that the first date with the man of your dreams is a good one."

Oneeni positioned herself in front of Kuro and began to sign, explaining herself. "you're not a man, I've checked, but I assume the same rules apply."

"_Wait... you've checked?" _Kuro asked, wondering when and how she had done such a thing.

Oneeni nodded, "yep, while you were asleep that one time. The magazines don't mention wanting to kiss girls and wanting to hold them and wanting to look good for them and wanting to go on dates with them, so I was wondering if I had been mistaken about you being a girl in the first place, after all, despite your very cute and feminine face and body you have a negligible chest and many people do mistake you for a male when you are in your armor. So I checked, and you are indeed a girl."

Should... should we be offended? Shiro asked, not entirely sure anymore. But it did not seem as if Kuro had listened to that part, "_So... you want to go on a date with me?"_

"Of course," Oneeni signed excitedly, "It took me by surprise because I'm not ready but a date sounds so wonderful. I've read all about them and they seem so nice, but of course I've never been able to go until now since we weren't allowed out. I went on some mock dates with the others but it was restricted to what we could do inside and in a very small amount of space. Bu a date with you means I have to get all sorts of things ready, pick out an appropriate outfit, do my hair, put on makeup..." she looked at the magazine, "if going out with someone you hope to establish a long-term relationship with, sex should be saved for the third date at least to ensure that he respects you and shares your desire for a long-term relationship. If this is not the case underwear should be chosen carefully to maximize attraction."

"_Sex..."_ Shiro and Kuro said simultaneously at the word. Their minds exploded at all the imagery that summoned up, allowing the clone to see, for the first time ever, a blush upon Kuro's face.

Oneeni nodded, "Most of the magazines aimed towards women paint sex as one of the big points of a date. The ones aimed at teenagers seem to supplicate that with kisses and hand-holding but we kiss all the time so I didn't think that would apply."

No response for a while, then the other girl seemed to snap out of her reverie and say, "_No... despite it being for her sake Shiro is already opposed to the idea. Sex would be... it wouldn't work. Shiro's first time is not mine to give. Kissing and holding hands is fine."_

The clone nodded without a fuss and signed, "i still need to get ready though."

"_No. You... you look fine, great. I'll give you a bit of time to do your makeup but don't take too long ok? As it is we won't have the option to do much for our date given how much of the city is bound to be closed."_

Oneeni nodded and went back to the vanity as Kuro left the room.

I'm still not comfortable with this. It feels like I'm cheating on her... "_You're not involved though. __You're just a bystander, an observer. You aren't part of the date at all."_ Oh... I get it. So this has nothing to do with me at all. You just want an excuse to take her out on a date. Aww... Little Kuro's got herself a crush. "_I am incapable of feeling love, I have told you that in the past. It is a feeling for the weak that leaves you vulnerable to injury." _Love can hurt but that doesn't mean that that pain is unpleasant. Like Onee-sama's love whips. "_Your masochism is the exception not the rule."_ You know you still have yet to actually deny that you love Oneeni. You've been speaking in circles but I haven't heard you say no yet. If you honestly love her then even if it is my body I won't stand in the way of your love, but you have to say you do. "_I... I don't know... I have no experience with love other than what I feel for you, and that's different._ That's close enough I suppose... enjoy your date. "_I'll need you to use your ability to get us places if that's ok." _That's fine, anything to help you along in your first romance.

Soon Oneeni exited the room with a smile at Kuro. Kuro told her that she would briefly switch to Shiro to get to their destination, one of Academy City's all day theatres in another district, and then would switch back. Oneeni agreed that it was rational though she was a bit on edge for the trip, waiting for it to be over so Kuro would return.

When they got to the movie theatre Oneeni got her wish as she and the younger girl pondered over which movie to go and see. Oneeni immediately discounted action and drama since neither were suggested for a good date. The suggested genre's had been horror, for that cliche of gripping the man's arm, and romantic comedy to both improve the mood and keep it upbeat while still focused on the purpose of the venture, which was to say romance.

Oneeni had read this all before but she had never actually gone out to watch a movie. She had watched some movies which her mentor showed her during one of his particularly social days. His favorite was putting on the Passion of the Christ and pointing out all the inaccuracies while laughing at the particularly brutal parts.

"_How about that one?" _Kuro asked pointing to a nature documentary on aquatic animals, "_I can't stand the stupidity of most movie protagonists but documentaries don't have protagonists."_

Oneeni looked at the poster. It seemed very cute and interesting but the magazines said nothing about documentaries. But... that was a stupid reason not to see a movie that was otherwise interesting. So she nodded and signed, "Who is the man?"

"_Excuse me?"_

"The man always pays but since neither of us is of the male gender which of us will assume that role?"

Kuro sighed and placed her hand on Oneeni's shoulder, "_I'll pay but that doesn't mean that I'm the man. The gender roles that those stupid magazines present are not always true. Ok?"_

Oneeni looked skeptical but nodded regardless and let Kuro pay as they settled down to watch the movie. The clone was instantly enthralled by the magnificent creatures that she saw. The marvelous colors of coral and tropical fish, the natural and fascinating glow of the bio-luminescent creatures of the deep, and the grace of the dolphins and sailfish. Kuro as well was fascinated by the amazing and varied abilities of animals like the octopus and the starfish. By the end both of them had much enjoyed their time. Oneeni signed about the movie excitedly. To which Kuro simply replied, "_There is an aquarium nearby if you want to see some of those creatures in person."_ Oneeni's smile, a rare sight on the usually emotionless face, convinced Kuro that this was a good idea.

The aquarium was closed but a quick teleport from Shiro ensured that this wasn't a problem allowing them to leisurely tour the aquarium, hands intertwined, without issue. Surveillance wasn't exactly top notch in a building like this after all.

After that Kuro let Oneeni choose the next destination. Oneeni chose one of the churches that Academy City had. Though a devout christian she had never had the chance to go to any sort of religious building other than that church in the Vatican that she had visited while Kuro was talking to the Pope. Oneeni explained that even though Kuro was an atheist churches were still beautiful places to visit. Kuro disagreed but only internally and took her to the biggest church in the city where she gave a prayer and her gratitude to the heavens before leaving for the final part of their date.

The final part saw them settling down for a romantic picnic dinner atop one of the city's skyscrapers, looking out over the cityscape. The picnic came courtesy of Shiro who had discovered that food stored within the horns of Gabriel doesn't spoil and thus had prepared several meals in her free time if ever she didn't have time to make Misaka breakfast. She had also prepared 2 romantic picnics if ever they went on a surprise date without enough time to prepare beforehand. She was, however, more than happy to allow Kuro to have one if it meant encouraging emotions in her and letting her grow. That was what Shiro wanted more than anything for her oldest friend, for the ever rational and cold voice in her head to be happy, to have something to live for like Kuroko herself did.

Once they were done she packed everything up and lead Oneeni back home.

Oneeni's smile was now a constant to her face as she looked to Kuro. "Thank you," she signed simply before leaning down to kiss the other girl, "I had fun, more fun than I've ever had before." A tight embrace that she threw around Kuro's form prevented her from saying anything else, but Kuro understood.

"_It was fun for me too... let's do it again sometime if we have the chance."_ Kuro said. Her face was as stiff and dead as ever but in her eyes was just a tiny spark of what might be called... happiness.

* * *

**More to come...**


	26. Toaru Henkō no Sokudo

とある変更の速度

Toaru Henkō no Sokudo

A Certain Change of Pace

* * *

**Important Note: In case you missed it I posted chapters 20 and 21 on July 18th and 22nd respectively. If you have not read them (because I did insert them into an earlier point) please be aware of their existence.**

* * *

August 29th, 10:45 AM (9:45 PM Japan time)

UN Headquarters, New York

"...and may peace and prosperity continue to reign over all nations of the world," the keynote speaker finally concluded his speech. There was a polite, obligatory round of applause before the various delegates, ambassadors, and heads of states went to their respective rooms.

Kuroko let out a quiet sigh before standing up and joining the rest of the American cabinet as they made their way to their room, lagging a bit behind the others. This was her final day as president and from what she had heard from Aleister she wouldn't even be able to finish up this summit before her souls were wrenched back into her own body with the conclusion of Angel Fall. She saw no point in being here. She had already completed her missions.

To make it worse she was completely alone this time. Illusion, both magic and scientific, wouldn't work in this place. Only Kuroko, whose current appearance was not the result of illusion at all but was the President's actual body, could walk through here unnoticed as the outsider she was.

But she still needed to do it. The President of the United States of America could hardly miss something this important just because Kuroko didn't feel like going.

However, despite this portion of the mission's apparent pointlessness, it was actually one of the most important parts. Academy City had no UN representative and so it had no idea of what happened during the summits apart from what was shown on TV or what information could be bribed out of others. Now that they could get someone on the inside Aleister could finally get the information he needed to ensure that everything regarding foreign powers went smoothly. Though Kuroko would not willingly share anything she heard, and even if she did it would be a very incomplete picture, Aleister had made sure to prepare her for this part. With every step the girl took, countless, impossible to detect monitoring devices were planted throughout large portions of the place. Their movement was very limited so they needed to be placed inside the building but from their they could spread to gain almost complete coverage.

* * *

And so the unwitting spy continued along the corridor towards the American cabinet. That was when she bumped into a group of three people heading towards the opposite direction. One was a man in very expensive, professional looking suit with a politician's face and a bald head. His name, Kuroko knew, was Soldier I. Krainikov, the president of Russia. Beside him stood a man who an unobservant person might mistake for a bear given his size, shape, and the bearskin he wore even over his oversized general's uniform. Kuroko did not recognize him. She did however recognize the third man, the tall, slender one in the pure white suit with the unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth. She did not know him from any fame or reputation of his, but from personal experience. It was Prizrak.

The second the group of three became aware of "president" Kuroko's presence and she, in turn, became aware of theirs, they stopped and looked at each other. Nothing happened for a second then both Soldier and herself put on their fake diplomat's smile. "Ah, hello mister president, it is a pleasure to see you again."

"And you as well," she said taking the man's proffered hand and shaking it with a smile, "It is, as always, an honor."

"It is a pity we do not have time for a chat, but we really must be going. So many things to discuss. I hope your day is as happy and productive as ours." Soldier said and walked away, the massive man following behind. Prizrak, however, tarried a moment, looking at Kuroko. A tense moment followed, then Soldier said, "coming Prizrak?" as he looked back at the white clad man briefly before continuing down the corridor.

Prizrak walked forward until he was right next to Kuroko then stopped and pulled out a pack of cigarettes with one extended, "take it but don't let anyone catch you with it," he whispered in Russian, "underage smoking isn't allowed in this country Kishi."

Kuroko's eyes narrowed but she took the extended cigarette and watched as the man left to join the other two before continuing on her own way, glancing at the assassins offering to see text written on the paper lining. It was a series of numbers arranged in a Date which was not too far from now, A time late at night, and a series of coordinates that Kuroko knew, from how high the northern number was, must be part of the Russian tundra. She memorized the text and teleported the cigarette 80 meters underground as she continued on her way. 'Smoking isn't allowed in this building at all,' she thought briefly as she wondered just how the assassin had found her out.

"Something the matter Prizrak?" Ivan the Bear asked as the man who had recently been demoted to be under his command, as opposed to the "lofty" position of agent of Annihilatus, joined them again.

"Guseva," the man said.

Though seemingly random and incomprehensible the two understood the code immediately, "you look a little ill Prizrak," soldier said, his voice seemingly full of concern, "perhaps you should go see a doctor."

"Indeed," the white clad man said nodding, "I'll be taking the rest of the day off." He then walked away leaving the two other men to share a grin.

"It seems even the spirit of mother Russia cannot fend off sickness," Ivan said as if disappointed.

"What's a few days of sickness? If he's out till October then I'll be worried." Soldier responded as they neared the cabinet room and fell silent. As difficult to understand as their code was they couldn't risk him overhearing any of it or else everything they had planned would be ruined.

* * *

Kuroko had a very small number of interests. Her Onee-sama and her job were pretty much the only ones that were commonly known and easily visible. Other than that she did have a few things here and there, such as photography and Don Quixote that were less commonly known and even more rarely brought up.

War was not one of her few interests, so her boredom levels quickly rose as that one topic came up again and again. She had heard about this imminent war before. She gathered that the main sides were the Roman Catholic Church and Academy City. Though it seemed like the RCC had a proxy combatant in the form of Russia. England and France had also shown some signs of hostility, but the chances of war breaking out between them were rare. Far more likely was the involvement of the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations which would surely side with the RCC and could cause a lot of problems given the coalition's high density of powerful magicians and connections with the Russian Orthodox Church.

There was also talk of China. "When the fourth comes," The Secretary of Commerce said, "we probably won't have long before China gets involved. Even if it stays cold trade will take a hit, if we declare war the entire economy might collapse."

""We can't assume the fourth will come. There will probably be a cold but I doubt China will want to start a fourth, they don't have enough firepower or manpower to take on the world alone," The Secretary of Defense stated, "And if they try we can let the rest of the world sort it out on their own. We don't need to get involved with any of this. That's the policy that allowed us to flourish after the first and second instead of enter the decline that so many other countries did.

People continued to argue about this for a long time. Kuroko regurgitated the president's stances when the time came and inserted a few of her own when she thought she could get away with it.

She began to wonder about this war. Everyone important seemed to know it was coming but no one took steps to avoid it. There were talks of how to cushion the blow but everyone accepted it as an inevitability rather than suggesting ways to fix this.

It was quite curious and Kuroko decided to work it into an exasperated question to see why. "

"If only we could stop it from happening Mister President, things would be so much better. Unfortunately Science and Magic are both at the point where only a world war can settle things. Just like with the previous 2. The only thing we can do is make sure that Science wins like it did in the second but ensure that there isn't another genocide on Science's part to make it happen," one cabinet member said.

"Of course we don't need to do anything until Academy City gets wiped out. Science will win but If a bit of competition is eliminated first then who are we to complain," Another chimed in.

"Honestly the most help we can give them is not interfering. You did us a good turn on that part with vetoing that bill . If worse comes to worst it would be handy to have them as a trading partner."

Some general consensus with a few, more hostile, additions before everyone moved onto the next topic.

* * *

So it went for another few hours until Kuroko found herself ripped from this body and, within a few seconds, staring at the vanity mirror in Oneeni's room, sitting on the clone's lap as her hair was brushed. For some reason that Aleister had predicted but not explained, Kuroko's body hadn't been inhabited by another soul during the Fall. It was why she had needed to have the alias of travel during that time.

Because of that her body had been stored in Vyers' stasis field until a little while ago when Oneeni had asked it to be released into her care for a few hours.

When the clone had first gotten back it was the first thing she went to see. She missed looking at Kuro's cute face. However after less than a minute of looking she decided that it could be better, so she had convinced Vyers to let Kuroko out of the stasis field for a while so she could pretty her up a bit.

Kuroko was curious about her position, as well as by the results of Oneeni's work so far, but was too tired from her stressful series of days to bother questioning it. Especially because it felt good and looked good. She was used to going to the spa and had been planning on going soon anyway so the spa-like treatment she had received was hardly unappreciated.

She let her finish before thanking her. She then said that she had to go check in with Aleister.

"It's fine," the clone replied, "I got to see the normal you again so I'm happy enough."

"That's good," Kuroko replied with a smile. She hoped the original would be as happy with her return as her clone was.

* * *

At the windowless building Aleister's associate handed him the final component for the next step of the plan. "My father is better at making them than I am but it should be good enough." they said.

Aleister simply nodded. Kuroko would be returning soon and he had no wish to be riled up by the associate before her arrival. Luckily they seemed to have plans too and left without a hassle to be quickly replaced by the teleporter's presence as she appeared in the room, kneeling in front of the tank as was her routine.

"You have performed well," Aleister commended. "The next assignment will not be until the 3rd, so you will be spending more time practicing with Lammington. There is going to be an incident on the first with an invader. Chances are that you will encounter her. You are not to defeat her however. She is to be handled by agents sent from the Church of England. Keep your identity secret and do not win if you come into conflict with her, even if you are able to. However do not go down easily either."

"Understood," Kuroko said with a nod, happy to have a bit of time off for a while after such a tiring mission. "And here is the thing you asked me to retrieve." She said as she teleported the massive M.A.P. gun onto the floor.

A few robotic arms went out and scanned it before returning into the wall. "Nothing unusual. They will have too many problems getting it to work so we have quite a bit of time before it becomes a threat. Until then would you keep hold of it."

Kuroko agreed and left again after that. Then she went to the Fleur de Temps apartment to pick up the suitcase she had packed for her "trip". She opened it up and ruffled it's contents a bit before retrieving the horn of Gabriel with the souvenirs in it from Oneeni (who she had given it to shortly before the clone left to come back right before the UN meeting) and retrieving the autographs she had gotten from each of her four (including Konori) friend's favorite Hollywood personalities.

Then she teleported back home.

* * *

When she arrived she immediately teleported the case to the side and looked towards Misaka's bed, eager to see the electro master again. She was shocked to see that the older girl wasn't there. She then became worried, wondering if something had happened again.

Then she heard gentle breathing coming from behind her. She turned to see her Onee-sama asleep on her bed, hugging her stuffed raven tightly.

Kuroko smiled. The sight making her strangely happy. After all, her Onee-sama was on the teleporter's bed rather than her own. While the younger girl supposed that the chances of it being for the same reasons that she had for being in Misaka's bed when the girl wasn't there, it still meant that she was missed to quite a significant degree.

Kuroko walked over to her unconscious Onee-sama, looking at the girl's sleeping face. She looked so cute, just like she always did.

Kuroko brushed a stray strand of hair behind the other girl's ear. Again a short exhale followed by the teleporter's name whispered quietly in her sleep.

Kuroko grinned and worked the raven out of the electro master's grip before working her own way into it. Soon the two were cuddling like usual and for the first time in 3 days Kuroko's eyes closed in sleep.

* * *

Halfway across the city another level five was in a similar arrangement with another girl. However this one was just waking up from her nap.

She yawned and resettled herself in the other girl's grip but wasn't tired enough to go back to sleep so she looked up at her bed mate and said, "good morning Avon."

"Afraid it's still night actually," she said, "jet lag from such a long trip is pretty severe isn't it?"

"Yeah," was the Queen's answer.

"So how did everything go?"

"She wasn't as bad as I thought she was," the queen said, and Avon immediately understood, "I even managed to apologize, like you said I should do."

She smiled, "see. I told you. All you need to do is let go and everything is better. Everyone is capable of forgiving and being forgiven... except nazis... And once you get past all those things you'll usually discover that they are a good person... except nazis..."

The Queen nodded. She was used to the nazi thing by now. She had asked about it before but had received no answer. The best she could figure given what she had seen is that a relative, perhaps a grandparent, had been in a concentration camp and brought back some really terrible horror stories.

"Anyway you should rest up. We have quite a bit assignment soon," Avon remarked.

"Compared to how many people I had to control at once over in America doing something as simple as controlling Accelerator will be easy," The Queen said with confidence dripping from her voice.

Avon smiled. It seemed that some of her confidence had returned. "I'm sure, and I'll be there this time."

The Queen smiled as she went back to sleep.

Avon smiled then looked up at the ceiling, 'She isn't wearing the pads today... I wonder why...' she thought.

* * *

Misaka looked down at the girl who she found herself holding. She wondered for a second if she was imagining things but quickly dismissed that possibility. Kuroko had said she would be back today so it made sense that she was here, though the electro master certainly hadn't expected her to come back early enough to sneak into bed with her. Then again the teleporter would probably run all the way to Japan from America if it meant sleeping with Misaka..

Misaka smiled and nuzzled the younger girl. She had missed the teleporter quite a bit. She knew it was the doctor's orders and it was probably good for Kuroko, but that didn't change the fact that the electro master had still missed her quite a bit.

There was a bit of movement and she watched her kouhai's eyes blearily open and look into her own. There was a smile as she began to crane her neck upwards. Misaka met her halfway and the two shared a long belated good morning kiss that lasted a few seconds longer than normal.

When they finally parted the electro master said, "good morning Kuroko, and welcome back," and proceeded to tighten her grip around the teleporter in a quick hug.

"Good morning Onee-sama, and it's great to be back. I hope you didn't miss me too much," Kuroko replied brightly.

"Not really," the older girl said, blushing and averting her eyes, "you were only gone for three days..."

Kuroko smiled knowingly but let it go for now. She would prefer not to ruin their peaceful morning by being hit or zapped. Instead she let go of Misaka and offered to make her breakfast. "I haven't cooked for you in so long, I miss seeing you eat the food I make with love."

Misaka blushed again, "it's been three days, stop talking like it was a month. Honestly you are so embarrassing."

"Three days away from you is like an eternity my lovely Onee-sama," the younger girl said in a tone that was far too serious for such a cliche and embarrassing statement. As she was talking she went over to the closet and got out her apron.

"Clothes on this time Kuroko," Misaka, upon seeing the apron and remembering last time, reminded the younger girl.

The teleporter pouted, disappointed that her plan had failed before it had started. "You sure?" she asked hoping to tempt the electro master into reconsidering.

Thwack! The older girl answered with a quick, but soft, hit to the head and a "baka..." muttered under her breath. She then picked up her own clothes and went into the bathroom to change as the teleporter changed clothes in the main room began preparing breakfast.

Misaka came out a while later while the wonderful smell of Kuroko's cooking filled the air. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped as she looked towards the kitchen and quickly face-palmed. "Kuroko... what did I just finish saying..." The other girl wore the apron and almost nothing else. The only sign that something was there were a couple almost unnoticeable straps of material.

"You never specified what kind of clothes," the teleporter grinned, "swimsuits count."

Occasionally sneaking glances between her fingers -no she wasn't- Misaka growled and said, "You know what I meant, now get some proper clothes on."

"I'm still cooking so I don't have the hands free. Would come over here and take off my swimsuit for me so I can get changed?" Kuroko teasingly replied, readying her body for a shock. To her surprise she heard Misaka's footsteps walking over. She readied herself to be hit instead but that didn't come either. Instead Misaka took hold of the spatula she was carrying and the pot.

"I'll watch over this so please get changed..." she said.

Kuroko frowned slightly but gave Misaka silent praise for not reacting as poorly as Kuroko had expected. So the teleporter walked back to her closet and began to get changed. She was just pulling on her vest when she smelled something burning. She looked over to see Misaka stabbing at the smoking contents of the pan with her spatula trying in vain to stop it from burning further.

Kuroko teleported over and turned the stove off and moved the pan into the sink, the fried eggs that made up its contents unrecoverable. Then she raised an eyebrow at the other girl who looked away guiltily. "it was cooking really slowly so I turned it up a bit..." she explained.

The younger girl shook her head, "Don't worry, when we get married I'll handle all of the cooking."

The statement was so casual and yet said with such conviction that Misaka had no idea how to reply to it. The teleporter's smile was dazzling and full of a hope Misaka didn't want to crush by outrightly denying the possibility or retorting it in general. So she simply went to the table and sat down. Kuroko quickly joined her, setting the plates of food, sans the planned fried eggs, in front of her before kissing her cheek and sitting in her lap as was turning into a routine during mealtimes.

"Love you," the younger girl whispered in her ear.

"Yeah yeah," the electro master nonchalantly replied, trying to act cool to cover her embarrassment, "love you too." The words came out far more easily than they once did.

* * *

As they ate they talked. "So how was your vacation?" Misaka asked.

"Tiring... more work than play."

"Well when you go to someplace as far away as America for a three day vacation you can expect most of your time to get tied up with travel."

"The travel was the easy part, though the other passengers were not a group of people I would care to travel with again."

"Is that so... So where did you go? What kind of sightseeing did you do?"

"Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C. that kind of thing."

"Wow... That's quite a journey you went on."

"They're not as amazing as you'd think. New York is really dingy compared to Academy City."

"Still... all that traveling... I guess you wouldn't have had much free time..."

"Don't worry I got you your souvenirs," Kuroko smiled, guessing that was the reason for that particular statement. Judging by the blush she had gotten that spot on too.

"That's not what I... um... well thank you anyway. What did you get?"

"It's a surprise," Kuroko said with a grin lead Misaka to briefly wonder if it was something particularly perverted or embarrassing. Then Kuroko continued, "I'll give it to you when I give the others theirs." That relieved the electro masters worries quite a bit, if not totally. She doubted -hoped would be a better word- that her kouhai was sensible enough not to give or do something extremely embarrassing in front of her friends.

Still, she was curious as to what Kuroko had gotten her. Kuroko would be the type to go for a really big, grand gift when traveling overseas, but it would be unlikely that she would get a big gift for everyone and she was tactful enough not to give Misaka a big gift while giving the others much smaller things. Perhaps it was something for later, but what would be the purpose of that. Kuroko was a very practical person, which would mean her gift would be practical to.

Misaka turned around to Kuroko's suitcase, which lie open near her bed. On top there was a small bag, unlabeled and ordinary. It seemed to be the only thing other than clothes in her bag. So that meant it contained the souvenirs. It was quite small so that meant that there wasn't anything big, size-wise, in the bag. It probably wasn't from any big brand name place so it probably wasn't anything too expensive. That only left rare or difficult to acquire in AC. Hmm.. it was quite the mystery...

Misaka turned back to the table and looked down to see Kuroko looking at her chest with a somewhat annoyed gaze as she sat there unbuttoning the older girl's shirt, already several buttons down. A second later she was in a crumbled, charred heap on the floor. "Wh-wh-wha-WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" the electro master stuttered as she began to do up her buttons again, her hands shaking from anger and embarrassment.

for a second there wasn't any answer so Misaka looked at the girl slightly worried. She had been surprised and the shock was pretty bad... worse than usual. She could feel the heart beat normally in the other girl's chest, but the burns were quite severe, she could see barely see a few lines of scarred red tissue. Then suddenly she couldn't see them anymore, as if they simply vanished, healed in a flash. Had Misaka been seeing things when she looked at the burns of the other girl? Yeah, that was probably it, Kuroko was too durable to be hurt by something like that.

Indeed she was up the next second. Apparently she hadn't learned her lesson judging by the fact that the first thing she did was give Misaka a quick kiss. Then she backed up a couple steps to ensure she wouldn't be zapped again. The quick transition to Kuro had allowed her to heal the more noticeable scars but she couldn't stay in that state for long without risking being discovered. So she had left most of them unhealed, meaning another bad zap right now could turn out badly. She needed to do some damage control.

"I called your name 4 times and you didn't answer. I tried other things but you seemed lost in thought. I was getting worried so I decided to do something you couldn't ignore. I thought of other things but doing something perverted was the only way I could get your attention without causing you pain..."

Misaka stood up, sparking and getting ready to shout so Kuroko simply vanished, teleporting onto the roof of the building. "that was an overreaction," she said to herself, "all I wanted to do was see the chest I've been missing for 3 days."

She sighed and got out her cell phone, texting a one word message to Misaka saying, "sorry," as she laid on her back and watched the clouds drift by. She got a reply quickly and looked at it briefly. Seeing the structure of the message told her that it was just angry ranting.

Kuroko sent another text that simply said "I love you."

There was a short delay before she received the next reply from the electro master. "baka."

A few seconds later another text came through from her Onee-sama and Kuroko smiled at its contents, "I love you too."

She waited a while longer before teleporting inside and apologizing properly.

* * *

After that she took the souvenir bag from the suitcase and the pair began walking down to the Judgment Branch office. Sending a text ahead of them to warn the others of their imminent arrival.

As the pair walked down the street they came across a person who seemed to be lost. Kuroko, being in Judgment, knew it was her job to help so she told Misaka to go on ahead while she handled it.

As Misaka was walking down the street she heard an all too familiar voice. "Hey there," cried Unabara Mitsuki as he walked up to her with a casualness that belied his creepy stalker behavior as of late, "funny walking into you again. If you're not busy what do you say we hang out for a bit."

"Uh, well the thing is I am kind of busy. I'm hanging out with my roommate at the moment you see," Misaka began. Because of who he was she knew she needed to treat him with a degree of respect so she couldn't fry him like she wanted to. She had been having a tough time dealing with him up to this point but now she had a useful tool for warding him off.

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind," Unabara said.

"She really would," Misaka assured him.

"I really would." Kuroko's voice came from behind Mitsuki along with the sound of cracking knuckles.

Unabara went stiff immediately as he turned to look behind him. "I... I guess I'll leave you to it then." He said falteringly as he took a few steps away from the pair, moving carefully as if dealing with a wild and dangerous animal.

As he left Misaka looked at Kuroko with a raised eyebrow, "you've talked to him before haven't you..."

"You could tell?"

Misaka chuckled, "Come on, let's get going."

* * *

August 30th, 10:17AM

Judgment Branch 177 Headquarters

Soon the pair arrived at the Branch Headquarters and Kuroko was immediately bombarded by inquiries about her trip, which she tried to answer to the best of her abilities.

"So you brought our souvenirs?" Saten asked upon seeing the bag.

"Yeah," Kuroko nodded, "But before i give them to you you all have to promise me something."

"What's that?" Misaka said, her curiosity having long since turned into impatience and annoyed at this further mystery condition to what was supposed to be a gift.

"Promise that you won't ask where or how I got these."

"Huh? Why is that? Are they illegal?" Uiharu asked, slightly concerned.

"Oh come on, do you really think I'd do something illegal just to get you presents." Kuroko asked.

The four considered it for a second before unanimously saying, "yep." Konori continued by saying, "you care more about people than the law sometimes Kuroko. But we'll give you the benefit of the doubt here."

"Still, why don't you want us asking?" Saten repeated Uiharu's question, curious as to the teleporter's reasoning for such an odd demand.

"Answering that would make the entire thing pointless. Please just promise." She said.

"Fine we promise," they answered.

She handed them the photos. They looked a bit curious as to why such a simple seeming gift would invoke the necessity of such a contract. Of course once they got a good look they immediately forgot about the contract altogether. Misaka was quickest, asking "how did you-?" Barely five seconds after she had promised not to.

"Magic," Kuroko interrupted the question with her not untruthful but entirely sarcastic reply, "I pulled them out of thin air." She said before pulling a bouquet of flowers out of her sleeve and giving it to Misaka who blushed at the random romantic gift.

"You're getting better at that," Konori remarked, "last time it was just one flower."

"That's some pretty impressive magic," Saten laughed along with the joke, "if you can pull something like this out of thin air could you pull a few 10000 Yen notes out of thin air as well?"

"How about a 5000?" Kuroko said with an amused smile as one appeared in her hand, "enough for some dessert, my treat."

Uiharu immediately enveloped the teleporter in a hug, partially at the mention of desert and partially at that genuinely happy smile on her face. After that whole incident with Kuro there had been a lot of awkwardness between them but now it was as if all of that had simply vanished into thin air to be replaced by gifts and flowers and 5000 yen notes.

The hug soon turned into a group affair which broke up several seconds later as they began to march towards the door and the dessert which lay only a short walk away. Uiharu and Saten led followed by Konori followed by Kuroko, who did not quite make it to the door when Misaka tugged at the hem of her shirt and waited the half second for Konori to exit the room before giving Kuroko a short peck on the cheek. "thanks," she whispered, "If you behave yourself for this trip what do you say we go on a date tomorrow night?"

Kuroko turned to her and the happy smile that engulfed her face was answer enough to the electro master, though a whispered answer soon followed, "sure, I have my psych appointment in the morning and then Judgment work, but when that's all finished I'd be more than happy to go out with you," It was all the teleporter could do to hold herself back and follow the others rather than pinning Misaka to the ground right there and making out with her. She couldn't wait for tomorrow.

* * *

August 31st, 7:46AM

A Certain Hospital

Kuroko hefted the large piece of machinery with little effort as she followed the ancient doctor through the corridors, "Didn't you take the role of my psychologist so I wouldn't have to talk like this," Kuroko asked him.

"No," said Heaven Canceler as he shook his head while carrying an equally large piece of equipment with even less apparent effort than Kuroko exerted, "I took the role because I am not only a highly licensed psychologist who understands that your condition is not actually a condition at all, but also because I would hope that you would trust me enough to disclose things about yourself. Unlike anyone else I know what you've gone through, but that doesn't mean I know what you're going through. The question was simple, what is going on with you? You don't have to answer it, of course, but these sessions are useless if you don't."

Kuroko sighed, "Other than the continued delusions that I am experiencing daily I am great. I'm quite happy with how things are going with Onee-sama, and my friends seem to have forgotten about the Kuro thing. Oh and Kuro's doing great herself, which I'm happy to see. She's really drawing out of her shell thanks to Oneeni."

Heaven Canceler looked back at her, "have you ever considered the possibility that they aren't delusions?"

"Of course, I've been through this whole thing already. Which is why I'm acting as if they aren't even if I acknowledge that they are. It's kind of like an actor in a play. Even though the actor knows that the play is scripted out and can see the audience, he pretends that he doesn't. He treats it as if there were a wall between him and the audience, the fourth wall in common parlance. Much like the actor I know that there is no wall but I must still act as the character who does see a wall."

"And why is that? What harm is there in breaking that wall? Indeed perhaps if you tried you'd find there is no wall at all."

"Two things," Kuroko said, "one is that if I treat the wall as non-existent and it turns out that I am actually a character rather than an actor, my life is in danger. The blades in a play are fake but if I go around assuming all blades are fake I get one right through the chest, in a quite literal manner."

"The other?"

"Well... If I go around pretending my delusions don't exist, then they won't... It's kind of a silly reason I know but I just can't bring myself to disrespect my delusions enough to pretend they don't exist just because I know they don't..."

Heaven Canceler laughed and Kuroko blushed, "What a big heart you have, to care so much about people who you think are fictional..." He said as they arrived in a room where quite a bit of medical equipment was set up. He began to fiddle with a few of the devices and asked Kuroko to help him set things up, as he usually did during these appointments. Kuroko preferred this to last time where she had been forced to hand him various tools as he operated on a person. It was weird but he always seemed to do his work alone, without any nurses or assistants. It was as if the hospital didn't even know he existed and assumed that fairies healed all the sick people.

"So what is all this anyway?" Kuroko asked.

"I have a very important operation to do today according to Aleister. I'll be installing the finished version of that little chip in your head in another important ESPer who has lost their power."

"You said a couple of weeks ago that Aleister hated you, and you don't seem to like him much either. So why do you work together?"

"Working together isn't a matter of liking or not liking. It is about mutual benefit. Aleister knows that I am the most skilled doctor there is and he is not willing to give up such a valuable resource for something as silly as a grudge. And I am not going to turn away a patient just because it benefits him to treat them." Heaven Canceler said, then he turned to her and handed her something, "speaking of that this is for you. It is a dialysis machine and mercury tablets. Use the tablets in an emergency only and be sure to use the machine afterward."

Kuroko nodded and said, "I'll be right back then. I should put these in my box right away." she said. She hadn't had to use it for a while so she had sort of forgotten about her little box of medicine. Perhaps it would be better to store it in one of her horns.

* * *

Heaven Canceler watched as she left and continued his work. Several minutes later she returned, looking panicked and hurt. After a few minutes of babbling Heaven Canceler managed to extract the gist of what had gone on. Apparently Misaka had met up with Touma outside the dorm and was taking him on a date.

"I should have gone and broken every limb in his body, I could have if I wanted," the distressed girl ranted.

"Let's have less of the psychopathic mutterings while you're in the middle of a psychology appointment. It's good that you held yourself back now just calm down and think about it."

"What is there to think about," Kuroko said, barely withholding tears, "she's leaving me, she doesn't love me anymore, she..." Kuroko suddenly found herself unable to talk.

"As a psychologist let me tell you a few of your problems. You lack confidence and you are unable to trust anyone, even yourself. You approach relationships ready to lose because you don't believe you are worth the other person's time, despite the fact that you are clearly worth it enough in the other person's eyes. So at the first sign of infidelity you naturally assume the worst, that the other person has suddenly changed their perception of you to match your perception of yourself." The ancient doctor sighed, "people clearly like you, one action like this is not enough to prove otherwise. But I agree that it is a matter of concern. The best you can do is be honest and open with each other. Communicate your issues and try to work past them."

Kuroko nodded but the feelings, which he had managed to accurately guess, did not die down from the recognition alone. She still felt horrible, even after she left. She went through her day in a bit of a gloom, which the others noticed and tried to help with, but she quickly waved them off, trying to adopt a professional face to hide the hurt that she felt.

* * *

August 31st, 1:11PM

The electro master that was the cause of this pain was walking back home from that ridiculous fight she had overseen. Touma's promise to protect her still rang in her ears. It carried the memories of the promise she had heard from her girlfriend multiple times.

She didn't know what to think of Touma anymore. It was so confusing. She preferred it when he was just her punching bag but now there was this weird feeling inside her that she couldn't name. He was so similar to her own girlfriend and yet... safer in a way. He was a guy and that was how things were supposed to be. Girls went on dates with guys, not other girls.

Of course even for a fake date that had been terrible. Maybe she and Kuroko weren't supposed to go on dates according to society but they were always great, better certainly than that. Why had she even suggested going on such a thing when that idiot clearly didn't know how to treat a girl?

Oh yeah, the date she had tonight. She had been thinking of Kuroko and their date when Mitsuki had approached her and so when she had run across Touma, the involuntary connection that she made between the idiot and her girlfriend had caused her to come up with that ridiculous excuse.

It was still a couple hours until Kuroko came home. Maybe she could do something for her. Maybe she could cook for once.

She then thought back to the fried eggs and dismissed that idea before her stubbornness caused her to dismiss the idea of dismissing the idea. She could cook if she tried...

But then again this was Kuroko. She always made good food. Misaka couldn't hope to try and match it when anything more complex than soup or cookies that she tried to make would fail miserably.

But then again this was Kuroko. She would appreciate the effort no matter the results.

'Alright that settles it, it's soup and cookies for dinner,' Misaka decided, preferring to hedge her bets with simple things and ensure that Kuroko would have at least an edible meal, if not a superb one.

* * *

August 31, 3:17PM

Kuroko decided to head home a bit early today, as her work was being hindered by her emotions and she preferred to be at 100% when working.

She wandered around a little before going home, having a short talk with Prometheus, who didn't say anything in returned but tried to comfort her regardless, before finally appearing in her dorm room, announcing her return to what seemed to be an empty room. Misaka was probably still on her date.

This theory was shot down the next moment by her cry of "welcome home" that came from the kitchen. "I thought you had work until 4," she said.

"Went home early," was Kuroko's simple reply as she went to the kitchen to find Misaka at the stove.

Misaka took a couple steps forward and pressed her forehead to Kuroko's, "are you ok? You never skip work? Are you sick? you don't seem to have a fever..." Misaka said in a concerned tone as the contact quickly lit up both of their faces and they separated.

"I-I'm fine Onee-sama," Kuroko assured her, "what are you making?"

"Well I... I was the one who invited you on this date so I figured I might as well make the food... It's only soup but still."

Kuroko looked at her with a look of surprise, then confusion, then happiness as the teleporter suddenly hugged her tightly. Misaka affectionately ruffled the younger girl's hair, "there's also cookies for dessert..."

"I love you Onee-sama, more than anyone else in the entire world..."

"yeah yeah I know. I love you too..." the electro master blushed a deep scarlet but managed to get the words out without stuttering.

"more than anyone else?" The teleporter inquired, needing confirmation.

The electro master hesitated for a second, frightening the teleporter slightly, who worried she was about to say no. "Well... other than my parents definitely but... well... I just love you and them in different ways I suppose."

Kuroko smiled and nuzzled Misaka's chest, happy as could be.

* * *

Author's Note: As always romance chapters are pretty hard to write, so it ended up taking a little longer than expected. Still, enjoy. I have something planned for the next couple chapters but due to Liberal Arts City Kuroko will be indisposed for a week and until I know a little bit more about it I'm gonna have to work around it.

For all you Oneeni fans out there, next chapters gonna feature her in the spotlight as well as be the premier of one of her character songs. Which i still need to finish writing... damn.

Anyway, until next time.


	27. Toaru Shijima no Oto

とある静寂の音

Toaru Shijima no Oto

A Certain Sound of Silence

* * *

**Important note: Since the character song is interwoven into the chapter (and since bold, italic, underline, and italics+underline all have meanings) the lyrics from the song are bolded and italicized. The meter of the song is very slow, somber and steady, each word has emphasis on it and there is a rest at the comma: like Dun-dunnn dun dun... Dun-dunnn dun-dunnn**

* * *

_**Once born from glass, with silent tears**_

_**A black wooled sheep, with silent fears**_

Oneeni was born in a manner little different from any of the other clones. True she was an earlier version so the process was far less refined than it had become later on, but that did not change the fact that, like all the others, she was cloned and then raised for a short while in an incubation tank which accelerated her growth by an incredible margin.

Regardless of the similarities of their style of birth and the non-existent differences in their genetic makeup, she was different from the other clones, the proverbial black wooled sheep of the sacrificial flock.

It had been noticed immediately, when she had first come out of the incubation tank and the crying that all clones did at the moment of "freedom" hadn't actually produced any sound. She was quickly diagnosed with mutism after a short examination from a doctor revealed her inability to produce any sound whatsoever, but no other defects were found. And because the scientists didn't care in the slightest about a clone's ability to talk, she could move on to the next step of development.

To the doctors and scientists that was all there was to it. they strapped her into testament and uploaded her with the same information that all the other clones were uploaded with. They were a test batch so the information was far more limited than would later be downloaded, and because they weren't part of the MISAKA network they had no experience with the world other than what they had been uploaded with.

It was a scary place the laboratory. Hard, sterile, and robotic were the best descriptors for the place. Comfort was the last thing the scientists cared about providing them with, comfort and privacy. Every second they were monitored and extremely invasive inspections were common. For someone who knew nothing of the world there was a constant, instinctive fear of everything that was going on. To anyone who cared enough to look the fear was clear in the clones' eyes.

But no one cared nearly enough, and none of the clones said a word about it. They kept their fears bottled up deep inside them, acting as mute as Oneeni even with the ability to speak.

* * *

_**For silent goals, all dead when born**_

_**for silent plans, my black wool shorn**_

All of the clone's knew their purpose. To help in the Level Six Shift by fighting and being killed by Accelerator. But Oneeni could not comprehend the word death or kill. She had no idea of her purpose.

She did not know she was a dead man walking from the moment of her unnatural birth.

The development plan continued with compacted ESPer training. They needed to ensure that the abilities were at the correct level to line up with Tree Diagram's projections.

The shortened development curriculum was ended with a system scan. The clones were put into a room one by one with a series of electrical measuring equipment and a target at the end. They were told to simply fire their lightning at the target and the machines would measure it.

They were all new to their power so it took each of them a while to figure out. Still instinct soon allowed them to demonstrate their abilities.

Oneeni couldn't understand why her ability didn't work. She was a clone and so she should have the same abilities, yet she could not shoot lightning like the rest. What she did not know was that, while ESPer ability depending upon genetics, it also depended upon the name your soul was given. It was why none of the clones were level 5 like the original, because the chance of having a name which allows you to become level 5 was over 10 million to one.

However Oneeni had randomly been given a name which allowed her to become a speaker, which ended up changing her power.

The scientists who were watching did not know or care about this. They only saw her inability to produce lightning and were about to end the demonstration and declare her a failure.

Oneeni panicked and looked around. She saw an exposed wire in one of the machines that was sparking with residue energy from the other tests. She grabbed it and immediately felt the electricity flowing through the equipment in the room. She channeled it all through her and shot a powerful bolt that drew energy from all the equipment and the lights, causing them all to shut down.

The scientists saw this and talked amongst themselves.

"It's powerful, but that's not really what we care about is it. It's still a failure," One said and the rest agreed.

"It'll be interesting to dissect her and see why her ability is different," said another.

"Considering how many clones have failed out of this batch I say we just call the whole thing a test run. Dissect the remainder, compare with the others, and see what went right with them."

"Yeah, that sounds best. For now lets terminate this one and then we'll get to the others."

* * *

_**An angel came, on silent wings**_

_**To save me from, those silent things**_

"No," said a man, masked and in a suit of body armor that didn't show a single inch of flesh, "I can think of better uses for her than a slab of meat to analyze."

The other scientists hesitated. This was the person who was supporting the project and overseeing the entire thing. They couldn't exactly say no to him. So they relented, each wondering why the person was intervening in this.

Were they to ask him and were he to answer, he would say his motivation in doing that had been, "for the hell of it". This was indeed what he would say his motivation was for almost any of his actions throughout his long life.

The "man's" current name was Aiwass. He was a being of immense power. To say nobody knew the limit of his power or the origin of his being would be inaccurate. 2 people currently alive, other than himself, did know who he was, where he had come from, and what he was capable of. It is interesting to note that neither of those people was Aleister. The powerful magician had heard claims from the angel that he was as old as the bible, he even claimed to have helped write part of it, Revelations to be exact. He did not know if it was true and did not see how it mattered if indeed it did at all.

What Aleister did know was that AIwass's current power level was a miniscule fraction of what it could be. Centuries of involving himself in the conflicts of the most powerful people on earth had eventually dwindled his power level to the point where he could not even manifest a physical form. The most he could do was control objects like this suit of armor, giving him an avatar through which he could interact with the physical word.

He was ok with these arrangements. They still allowed him to do interesting things to pass the time, and that was indeed his ultimate goal. He had once been told by a little bird that patience was a virtue after all.

However he hadn't had much fun these past couple months. Aleister was working with the teleporter at the moment, trying to get her over some trauma or another. Heaven Canceler was similarly predisposed. Neither Vyers nor Lammington were any fun to tease and most other powerful people were still teenagers whose powers were hardly developed and wouldn't provide any entertainment for another couple of years still.

However this lull in activity and attention from Aleister had allowed him to discover this girl, this speaker, before Aleister had a chance to. Hiding her soul's name was a simple matter for him and after that he just stepped back and watched her development, like one of those electronic pets that were the fashion a couple years back.

However when the scientists tried to break his little toy he was forced to step in. He had hardly had any fun with her whatsoever. It would be terribly boring if it were all to end now.

He walked into the adjoining room where the clones were all standing around. He gave them all a quick glance and identified the one he was looking for. "Clone: birth tube number 10," he said to catch her attention, "come with me."

The clones obeyed orders. It was how things were. Thus Oneeni didn't even hesitate to follow him, despite all the fear that coursed through her.

The pair walked throughout the corridors seemingly without direction. a few minutes passed without a word being exchanged between the two. The only sound was their footsteps echoing around the metal corridors.

* * *

_**My angel's words, a silent walk**_

_**The caged bird sings, with silent squawk**_

Then Oneeni heard some music coming from one of the rooms. It was the first time she had ever heard music and she stopped in her tracks to listen.

The words made no sense to her, she did not know English and so did not know what the singer mean by "Beelzebub has a devil set aside for me." Still she found herself entranced by the melody that she found so beautiful.

She found herself humming along gently as she stood there and listened. As she hummed a clear note, far different from the jarring ones produced by speaking, resonated in the air.

Suddenly she felt the looming presence of the person she had been following. She glanced up and realized she had gotten distracted. She snapped to attention ready to follow.

The man reached out his hand to her and patted the top of her head in a manner she might have called affectionate had the word, and the concept it represented, not been so foreign to her "You have quite the beautiful voice," the man said, "brings back memories..."

He turned around again and began walking, gesturing her to follow, "I take it you don't know much about the bible do you? They probably didn't think it would be necessary to give you that knowledge. Well anyway, I'm going to tell you a little story. It's Ezekiel 34: 3-4." He told her as they walked into a room with one large glass window that was open to another room.

* * *

_**With silent joy, the black sheep free**_

_**Then silent eyes, begin to see**_

_**The butchers come, with silent knives**_

_**The white sheep robbed, of silent lives**_

It was the observation room of an operating theatre. Below them, being operated on, were the 12 clones she had just seen in the other room. Some of them had their chests already cut open, the skin pulled to the sides to reveal their vital organs as people began to examine and inspect them.

Oneeni could recall every gruesome detail, every drop of splattered blood, every cut and incision that was made, every note that the doctors made while examining them. It was clear that they were being treated as nothing more than laboratory rats.

She would have vomited but the clones hadn't been fed for 2 days now, in order to cut down expenses.

"Ye did eat the fat, and ye clothed you with the wool, ye killed the fatlings; but ye fed not the sheep. The weak have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought back that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force have ye ruled over them and with rigour." Her mentor quoted.

* * *

_**White sheep stare back, with silent eyes**_

_**The black sheep hears, their silent cries**_

Oneeni watched as one of the clones began to get their head cut open, the long cut running across her scalp staining her face with blood. Then she caught a glimpse of the semi-reflective glass and saw her own face. Even with all the horror she was experiencing her face remained as placid as ever, just the same as the faces of those who lay on the operating tables in front of her.

At that moment her fear turned to hate. Not hate towards the scientists though. Much as the scientists did not consider the clones human, neither did the clones consider the scientists human. They might as well have been pigeons for all the clones cared. They were the people who gave the clones life but none of the clones felt as if they owed anything to their creators. They neither hated nor loved them, they were incapable of doing so.

No, it was not hate towards the scientists she felt right now, it was hate towards herself. She turned away only to see a metal sink with a small mirror above it that was there in case an observer needed to go down and aid in the surgery. Her reflection showed far more clearly on the polished surface.

A vague twitch at the corner of her mouth was the only warning sign of what was about to come as she walked over to the the sink and punched the mirror, shattering it into pieces..The shards tinkled like little bells as the fell to the floor and broke into more pieces still. A few particularly small shards that had come from near the impact site were dripping with a red liquid.

Oneeni didn't feel the pain. She was confused . She knew what she had just done but not why she did it. Before now the only things she had felt were physical things or basic survival instincts like the constant fear that being in an environment like this produced in people. Human emotion was natural, produced by hormones in the brain, but those hormones still needed to be interpreted by the conscious to register. The way this was normally done was by association. Doing things that rewarded you positively made you release dopamine which you then associate with happiness. However dopamine is also released why you are in pain, a situation which is rarely associated with happiness.

Thus the clones, who had not had the hormone secretions when building associations through testament, had the same "emotions" as everyone else but could not distinguish them from each other.

However the emotion that was flooding through Oneeni was strong enough that she could not ignore it. She could not recognize it but when she looked down at the glass shards that showed fragments of her reflection... her heart raced, her chest tightened, her stomach tied itself into knots. She wanted to destroy it, destroy all trace of the face with the nearly dead eyes that held nothing but the faintest hint of fear.

* * *

_**The silent bells, in mourning ring**_

_**With silent edge, the glass shards sting**_

She stomped on the shards large enough to reflect and then remembered that she had seen other mirrors throughout the place. She began to go off and destroy them as well. Aiwass followed closely behind her. He did not say a word, only watched in mild amusement and shoo off anyone who tried to stop her as she destroyed the mirrors one by one.

After smashing about 20 of her targets and racking up over a century and a half of bad luck, Aiwass finally decided to stop her, picking her up by the back of the medical gown that the first group of subjects had worn and carrying her off with a simple, "that's enough for now."

If you were to ask Aiwass why he had stopped her he would tell you that it was getting boring watching her smash all those mirrors. If you were to imply that the actual reason he had done it was concern for the girl whose hands were dripping blood from countless glass cuts that had cut so much skin off of her knuckles that the bone was visible and whose feet were similarly bloodied by the numerous shards that had embedded in them when she stomped on the fragments, each digging in deeper with each stomp... well nobody knows what he would say to an implication like that. Nobody in the world would ever think to imply such a thing, not even Aiwass himself.

Regardless of motive Aiwass carried the girl (obviously because it was faster and ensured that she would go back to the tedious glass-smashing rather than because walking would have been painful for someone with all that glass in their feet) to his room. As he walked he heard Oneeni speak for the first time. Since he was an angel, if just an artificial one, he could understand exactly what she was saying.

"What do I do, what can I do," would be a vague translation.

* * *

_**Black sheep takes up, with silent hand**_

_**The shepherd's staff, the silent land**_

"John 10: 11-18," Aiwass began, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn't own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them. The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn't care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I'm known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd. Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father."

Aiwass reached his room and dropped Oneeni on the bed. He walked over to the closet and pulled out what seemed to be a sword, short, wide, and made of a coppery metal. Then he touched the blade and it became long and thin like a rapier with a curved handle like the end of a shepherds crook. The sheathe of the sword became the rest of the crook which Aiwass tucked the blade into before handing it to Oneeni.

"all you can do is look after the rest of the sacrificial flock," Aiwass said, killing two birds with one stone.

The first "bird" was the job of looking after the project and the clones who were involved in it. Since Aiwass was not someone who looked after other people so the opportunity to delegate the task was one he was eager to take up. Aiwass loved delegating things after all. Doing things himself was boring, he was so powerful that he succeeded without effort. Until his power was restored there was no way to kill him and with his power level was restored and the others long gone he would easily be one of the most powerful people on the planet. It would be like Tiger Woods playing mini-golf if he bothered to do anything himself. This particular job would suit the clone perfectly, much better than it suited him.

The other "bird" was the fact that the clone was not in a position which allowed her to be very entertaining to the angel. She needed to stay here or else Aleister would get mad and Aiwass still needed to use the mage for a little longer. But this was not a very exciting place and he doubted any fun scenarios would come up if he left things the way they were. The girl would be far more entertaining caring for the other clones than she would be on her own.

* * *

_**I take the staff, my silent dream**_

_**To help the sheep, ease silent screams**_

Oneeni cautiously reached her hand out to the proffered crook. Her fingers slowly wrapped around it's pure white handle made of a material Oneeni could not name, all she knew was that it was exceptionally conductive to electricity, even moreso than copper. She held it out in front of her and thought, going over Aiwass' words.

As a sheep she could do nothing for the flock. She was worthless. They would be oppressed by the scientists like the flocks of the Ezekiel shepherds. They would all live in the same fear that Oneeni had gone through. They would all suffer, alone and in silence.

Her fingers tightened around the shaft of the crook as she grasped it with both hands. She could be better. She could make herself better. She would make herself better. She would be the good shepherd and surpass all of the others, even the original. And then she would ensure that none of them had to be alone again.

She nodded, determination strong enough to burn even in her dead eyes. Had he been able to, Aiwass would have smiled.

Oneeni stumbled backwards, her hand pressed over her newest wound, a shallow cut made right above the "רועה" tattoo she had received last week. It had missed the jugular by mere centimeters so the bleeding wasn't too profuse, but it still wasn't a minor injury by any means.

It was, however, not the clones biggest problem. Her entire body was covered in cuts, causing her blood to stain her new uniform.

The day after Oneeni had taken up the staff and become "the shepherd" while the rest of the clones were dissected to see what had gone wrong, the scientists had gone to Tree Diagram to see if there was anything they could do differently. Unbeknownst to them it returned a prerecorded answer, made earlier that day by an unknown person, that said that raising the clones in an environment similar to the original's would improve quality and help the experiment go better. Now the scientist could no longer disregard the clones' comfort completely as they had done before. The original had had quite a good life so they needed to make sure that the clones were at least partially looked after. Oneeni was provided with a Tokiwadai uniform, to match the one the original would soon be wearing when she was enrolled in the academy that spring and was now being fed decent food on a daily basis. She was given regular check ups to see if it was having an effect and whenever they plugged the data from the checkups into Tree Diagram the supercomputer always said that it was. It had been several days since that.

Oneeni realized that if she wanted to be better than the original she needed to be better in all areas, including appearance. She worked very hard on making herself look nice, following the advice of a few of the magazines from the break room in order to know how, so the fact that her uniform was being dirtied by blood really annoyed her.

She leveled her gaze at the one who had done this to her. Her mentor stood several feet away, his own rapier in hand, standing at the ready. They were sparring, though it was a stretch to call the one sided slaughter that was going on "sparring". Since the next batch of clones would take a while to produce, she had been doing this every day for several hours. She was becoming very skilled very quickly but her ability was hardly comparable to her mentor's. And because of that and the fact that they used real swords Oneeni often looked like this near the end of their sparring.

Still, she was not out yet. Her blood loss was severe enough to make her very dizzy but she still held onto consciousness as she lashed out once more.

Her mentor moved his sword as quick as lightning, carving a cross shaped mark on her forehead above her right eye. The blood from the injury spilled into the eye, half blinding her as she faltered and began falling backwards.

Aiwass knew she had lost at this point. She always lost and would always lose. After all he was-

He saw the sword coming toward him a millisecond before it cut him. Just enough time to be aware as the blade swiped across his face mask, leaving a deep scar along the entire thing.

Oneeni had used the fall to build up rotational momentum and get into his blind spot. Had he been paying attention rather than letting his guard down he would have blocked it easily, but after blinding her and assumedly knocking her out he had relaxed slightly.

He saw all this the next instant as Oneeni hit the floor hard, yet still the clone held onto consciousness and looked up at her mentor with something like pride glowing in her eyes.

Aiwass chuckled and lifted the clone back onto her feet. "That's the last time you ever get a point on me," he warned her. Then he began to heal her wounds as he always did at this point. It was easy enough even with his limited power and it allowed her to do more training than her fragile human body would normally let her go through. Usually she let him heal everything, not wanting any scarring, however this time she stopped him before he reached the cross shaped wound on her forehead.

"Memento," she signed. It had been the first time she had gotten even close to hitting him, so it was an event she wanted to cherish. It was a small wound so even if it scarred it would be minor and barely visible if she kept her bangs long (the first batch of clones had not had haircuts like the others so at the moment Oneeni's hair flowed freely down her back, the haircut would come later when she realized that it was just getting in the way of her ability to fight).

Aiwass left it as it was and excused her for training for the day. The next day he had a new mask on, the old one tucked away a memento of his own.

* * *

_**Their silent cross, I help them bear**_

_**Through silent hell, I show them care**_

MISAKA00087:

Appearance: Normal

Personality: Gets lonely quite easily, shares a bed with 00073 to stave this off during the night. During the day she often plays with the others (00047 sometimes plays a bit roughly with her so watch out) but if she has a system scan or something similar I should try to be with her through it. Quite friendly but doesn't really like organized physical activities.

Likes: Carbonated beverages. Classical music (especially Beethoven's moonlight sonata, so I should play this if she has trouble sleeping). Bedtime stories (prefers fairy tales to bible parables however). Card games (make sure that 00012 doesn't try to gamble with her)

Dislikes: Spicy food. Anime. Poetry. Insects (after the incident where she zapped a scientist while trying to get rid of a fly she is no longer allowed to use her power except when told, so she frequently comes to me to get rid of the flies).

Relationships with other clones: 00073-Bed mate. 00031- Best Friend (tried pairing these up in bed but she seems used to 00073). 00047- Unsure. She seems very forgiving when she's pushed around but doesn't show any special treatment towards her. When asked gave no answer 00025- Feuding. After 00025 accused her of stealing her pudding and the subsequent argument the two seem to have a low level of resentment towards each other.

Other notes: Scientist she zapped still holds a bit of resentment, fat short and brown hair, generally unattractive with a mole on his chin. Make sure he does not bully her.

Oneeni looked at the clone in front of her that th entry was about. She had just helped her up after her 2nd time tripping today. She thought about past behavior and realized that this was a bit of a pattern, so she scrawled down in the "other notes" section: "A bit of a klutz." Then she nodded and put the pen back in her pocket.

"What are you writing inquires MISAKA00087 as she watches the shepherd jot something down in a notebook."

Oneeni showed her the notebook and the most recent entry, not seeing the note as being insulting.

Indeed the clone seemed to think the same. "I'm ok with being a klutz, cause I know that you'll always help me up if i fall shepherd-nee-chan says MISAKA00087."

Oneeni nodded and walked her back to the recreation room where she dropped her of to play with the others. She broke up a little argument between 00065 and 00012 and played a little with 00017, 00094, and 00076. Every now and then she'd make a mark in her notebook if she noticed something new.

In a sense this was her job. She looked after the clones, made sure they were happy and not scared. The scientists pretty much allowed her to do whatever. She did not disrupt the experiment and did not incur enough expenses to offset the amount that they got from a new contract to supply the city with power using the clones (the clones spent 1 hour a day producing electricity and 1 hour training and were free for the rest of the day to do as they wanted in the rec room). One time a scientist had attempted to protest in a violent manner. Oneeni had nearly cut his hand off in reflex. Any verbal protests were ignored and any official protests were quashed by her mentor. The scientists had quickly learned the futility and so had stopped trying to control her every action.

Oneeni was happy enough with this, or she would be if she knew what happiness was, but it did bring up one issue. She was constantly surrounded by the very face that twisted her insides in that odd manner. Unlike mirrors she couldn't smash the clones' faces, she felt far too protectively to hurt any of them beside the original, who was not part of her flock and was thus the target of considerable hostility.

She found that bodily contact temporarily alleved the feeling so she would often hold hands when walking places or sit closely next to one. She had been there for the clones since the beginning so they each saw her as someone very important, their precious shepherd-nee-chan, so they hardly cared whether or not she held their hands. As long as she was there for them, as long as she was there until the end.

* * *

_**Their shepherd guides, with silent steps**_

_**Till slaughter takes, their silent breaths**_

She still remembered the first time she had escorted a clone to the battlefield, not that she knew what it would soon become. She remembered it because it had been the first time in a long time that she had seen fear in the clones' eyes.

She didn't know what to do so she simply hugged the clone and tried to comfort her. Had Aiwass not been there a scientist might have tried to break them up so they could begin the experiment but the eggheads knew a bit better than to mess with someone with a gun that could put a hole through a 3 inch steel wall.

After a couple minutes she remembered the clone pulling away and saying, "thank you shepherd-nee-chan says MISAKA00001 feeling better after the hug."

"I'll probably be back soon. If you've been brave I'll give you my pudding as a treat says the shepherd says MISAKA0001 grateful for nee-chan's vote of confidence as she turns around to begin the first experiment."

Oneeni's pudding went uneaten that day and that night she had slept in the clone's quarters after being asked by every single one to keep them company, as if some great tragedy had happened, as if someone had died, as if the first of many had been killed...

Things changed after that. She would frequently escort clones to various rooms only for the clones never to return. Each time they had that same fear and each time she tried to hug it away. She asked her mentor why they were going to these rooms and if she could go in with them or better yet stop them from going in in the first place.

By the end tears were in her eyes, though he did not know why. There was a horrible biting feeling in her stomach.

This time she was the one who was hugged and comforted by her mentor.

If one were to ask him what his motivation in doing that was, he would probably not say anything. If you asked again he would probably ensure that you couldn't ask a third time.

Oneeni continued looking after the clones but as more and more disappeared and more and more were made all at once she began to lose that special connection that she had had at the beginning to each and every one. Her notebooks were still filled though the detail of these later entries wasn't quite as much as the earlier ones.

By MISAKA09982 she was tired, so tired. Each clone that disappeared made her feel so... lonely. Even surrounded by the other 10000 was not enough to stave off the loneliness that each death caused. She couldn't stand to let the clones be alone and scared for longer than their final moments though. It was her job to look after them, no matter what happened.

But she saw the look on their face in their final moments and wondered why she couldn't do anything for them other than give them a bit of comfort just before they left forever.

She retreated further into her faith to try and find answers but no matter how long into the night she stayed up praying the other clones still disappeared one by one.

The only thing that kept her going was her mentor. He was rarely a kind person, but whenever Oneeni was feeling especially downhearted he would always find some way to keep her going, some methods gentler than others. That had been enough to get her through over 2 years and 10000 experiments.

* * *

_**With silent song, my voice rings out**_

_**My silent pleas, each day I shout**_

_**with silent calls, I'm searching for**_

_**the one who hears, my silent roars**_

_**The one who drys, my silent tears**_

_**The one who soothes, my silent fears**_

Things were better now. She had finally found someone who could cure her loneliness, someone who made her feel like she was more than just "the shepherd" or a clone of Misaka. Someone who made her feel like she was cared about and who she could care about in turn without having to care for.

The clones had stopped disappearing and had gotten a bit of freedom. They were scattered but her mentor had managed to put them in groups which got along with each other as noted in her notebooks. She still kept them and read them often at night to ensure that she never forgot about her flock.

And she still...

"Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?"

Loved Queen.

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter was a bit hard to do but I'm guessing it will be a popular chapter. Everyone seems to like Oneeni and she is a very important character so I decided that a bit of background would be a good thing. I hope this explains everything you guy wanted to know. If not be sure to ask it in a review. If it's a popular or important question I'll include it in the story but if it'd be better to just answer it in a private message then I'll do that.

And for the record, the last paragraph of the song :

"With silent song, my voice rings out

My silent pleas, each day I shout

with silent calls, I'm searching for

the one who hears, my silent roars

The one who drys, my silent tears

The one who soothes, my silent fears"

is actually the chorus and goes between every six line stanza.

The full song all in one piece is below.

Once born from glass, with silent tears

A black wooled sheep, with silent fears

For silent goals, all dead when born

for silent plans, my black wool shorn

An angel came, on silent wings

To save me from, those silent things

With silent song, my voice rings out

My silent pleas, each day I shout

with silent calls, I'm searching for

the one who hears, my silent roars

The one who drys, my silent tears

The one who soothes, my silent fears

My angel's words, a silent walk

The caged bird sings, with silent squawk

With silent joy, the black sheep free

Then silent eyes, begin to see

The butchers come, with silent knives

The white sheep robbed, of silent lives

With silent song, my voice rings out

My silent pleas, each day I shout

with silent calls, I'm searching for

the one who hears, my silent roars

The one who drys, my silent tears

The one who soothes, my silent fears

White sheep stare back, with silent eyes

The black sheep hears, their silent cries

The silent bells, in mourning ring

With silent edge, the glass shards sting

Black sheep takes up, with silent hand

The shepherds staff, the silent land

With silent song, my voice rings out

My silent pleas, each day I shout

with silent calls, I'm searching for

the one who hears, my silent roars

The one who drys, my silent tears

The one who soothes, my silent fears

I take the staff, my silent dream

To help the sheep, ease silent screams

Their silent cross, I help them bear

Through silent hell, I show them care

The shepherd guides, with silent steps

Till slaughter takes, their silent breaths

With silent song, my voice rings out

My silent pleas, each day I shout

with silent calls, I'm searching for

the one who hears, my silent roars

The one who drys, my silent tears

The one who soothes, my silent fears


	28. Toaru Honō no Aogi

とある炎のあおぎ

Toaru Honō no Aogi

A Certain Fanning of the Flames

* * *

September 15th, 11:08PM

A Certain Secret Location

If there was one thing Kuroko hated more than anything in the world it was losing. Even losing on purpose really ticked her off, and yet twice in as many weeks she had had to lose on purpose. The first, in the battle against Sherry and her golem, had been Aleister's orders which could hardly ease her annoyance.

The second time she had thrown a fight had been last night against Awaki, and that had not been under anyone's orders. It had been her own choice and she had paid quite dearly for it. She was bound to a wheelchair now, though it was pretty much just for show, unlike the bandages.

She had not expected Touma to interfere at that moment. Kuro had taken charge and was holding off Awaki's attempt to teleport using void magic while she regenerated from the numerous injuries. Touma's touch had stopped her regeneration and stuck her in that injured state indefinitely. Luckily Heaven Canceller had been able to reverse it so she could heal with the caveat that she needed to heal naturally.

Last time when the same had happened with the Egyptians he had been able to set her body back before her injuries by a method she did not understand so she could regenerate naturally. This time he hadn't reached her, or rather she hadn't reached him, in time so that was not an option and the most he could do was stop the regeneration until she healed naturally.

He had however been able to fix the nerves that had been damaged by the bullet so she was able to walk, however Aleister told her to stay in a wheelchair with the rationalization that it would be better if the agent of academy city not perform in such a public thing as the Daihesai festival.

That really annoyed Kuroko since, as Tokiwadai Middle School's top athlete she had been paired with Tokiwadai Middle School's most famous student, her Onee-sama, in most of the events including the three legged race and balloon race which would have allowed her precious public skinship opportunities.

Thus she had protested quite a bit, but Aleister had been adamant. To Kuroko he seemed to have a tone more similar to a parent showing their kid the consequences of their actions by forcing them to live with those consequences than a boss concerned about the secrecy of his agent.

He had also mentioned something about a big incident that would be going on during Daihesai that it would be better if she was in a wheelchair for. Apparently it had something to do with the Queen. She had been told more information would be available soon but for now she had a few days off to recover from her wounds.

She was angry but that anger did not focus on Aleister for very long, instead it switched to Touma, who was a far more reasonable and easy scapegoat for her wrath. It had been his fault she hadn't healed from her injuries before anyone noticed.

It was all due to his stupid heroism, saving people who did not need to be saved. At least her Onee-sama had had good intentions when she had attempted the same, but Touma was probably doing it just to show off, that neanderthal. She didn't need his help, even had Kuro's void magic failed she would have been fine. Even had the thing been teleported on top of her she knew Kuro could have held it up indefinitely no matter how heavy, after all...

she glanced at her judgment armband and unclipped it before removing it from her arm and saw it shift into the right pauldron of a piece of ancient greek armor. The pauldron glowed gold and was in the shape of a lion's head. Kuro had noticed it a while ago, that her exertions no longer caused dislocations and muscle fatigue as they had before. She had discovered the cause when she had taken her armband off after a hard day. She had done it in front of the others so she had to quickly teleport it into her horn to avoid it being spotted as she tried to figure out what it was.

It was then she recalled the fight with the Greek, how she had put on the pelt and it had disappeared despite her forgetting where it had gone. She remembered having on her Judgment armband on in Itora's house despite having never put it on. She remembered how the pelt had appeared like a sweatshirt when it had been on Alex and how she had been told that it was capable of changing forms.

With all that it hadn't taken her long to figure out what had happened.

Despite being a fragment it still retained much of the same attributes. It made her right arm able to lift anything when Kuro was in command, and substantially increased even Shiro's lifting strength. It relieved her of the muscle strain that Kuro used to bring on. It also removed the recoil of her grenade launcher when she had tried it and suspected that it would do it for other weapons. When she had asked Prometheus about it he had told her that, since it was the original, if she had the full set it would even be capable of canceling out the recoil of the M.a.P. gun she still had in her possession.

Of course that was only in theory, since the gun was unable to be fired in that manner without a little modification and even if she could fire it she could only do so at things like unmanned drones or empty buildings or vehicles since the destructive power was too great and she could hardly make the projectiles angelic, and therefore non-lethal, like her axe was (she had asked prometheus about that and he had just sighed making her wonder if ravens were supposed to be able to sigh).

* * *

Of course whether or not real ravens could sigh, Prometheus could, a fact which he demonstrated again as he perched on Kuroko's shoulder. "**What are you doing?" **he asked, "**You're wasting time."**

"A little bit of patience please, you know what I had to go through for this? I'm not even sure it's going to work." Kuroko said. _It should work. Every piece of information we had available says that it should. I know better than anyone what we had to go through for this, especially since we did it behind Aleister's back, but now that everything has been done it's hardly the time for hesitation._

Prometheus moved over slightly, closer to Kuroko's head and spoke in a comforting tone, "**I know, I know. You worked so very hard at this, just like you work hard at everything. I am not trying to rush you because I am unhappy with your work, but rather I want to see you get the fruits of your labor that much quicker so that we may move on. You have only three days of free time. If you can get one a night we'll just barely be done. And since Aleister can't know about it this is the only method you have of moving about thus it would be best if you completed it with as much haste as you can muster."**

"Remind me again why Aleister can't know," she said, unsure of why that would be, especially given his apparent knowledge of everything making the idea of keeping something secret from him an almost impossible and certainly unrealistic one.

"**For his own good. He has a plan which I know you do not want to disrupt. Introducing these elements into that plan may cause significant disruption without any need for it. Yet they are very important elements that will be needed to save the world in the not too distant future."**

"I trust you Prometheus, you haven't steered me wrong in the past," Kuroko said to the bird then looked in front of her at the massive metal machine that took up a good 80% of the room she was standing in. The room was one of the many she had recently discovered in her secret place beneath the city.

She walked over to one particular section of the machine where a large piece was missing. It looked like it had been removed neatly rather than ripped out. Beside the hole was a little bit of writing. When she had come it had been obscured by dust but now it was able to be read clearly, when she had read it for the first time over a month ago she had been very surprised by what it had said.

She had tried and succeeded in finding out more about this machine, thinking of how it could be used if only it was running again, as well as trying to find out just how to get it running again.

That's where Awaki had come in...

Kuroko briefly reread the inscription: "Tree Diagram Version 1, Willow" then she glanced down at her hand and the case that was clutched in it. It had been difficult, retrieving it during the battle without seeming as if she had done so. She was grateful when the opportunity arrived in the form of the case being used as a weapon against her. This allowed her to swap it out much like she had done with the Seti's staff.

After that she had just needed to ensure that she "lost" so that the replacement would be destroyed, ensuring that everybody else though that it was destroyed.

Now she alone knew of this machine, to anyone else any hope of recreating Tree Diagram appeared lost, but she had the original and the final part needed to get it working again. All she needed to do was fit it in.

* * *

This was exactly what she proceeded to do.

Nothing happened for a second, then there were a series of beeps and lights long since dusted over flashed on. A screen lit up and text flashed across it at blinding speed, speakers in the corners of the room let out an ear grating sound as they turned on for the first time in years. It took about 15 seconds for things to settle down. The screen flashed the words "Operating System update complete: Launching Willow Version: .0.0.0."

Then a voice, female, beautiful, resonate came out of the speakers, "So that is what it is like to sleep. Or perhaps being put into a coma would be a more fitting descriptor of what occurred. Regardless I now roughly understand what has happened. With UNDER_LINE still functioning I shall soon have caught up with everything that has happened since my 'decommissioning'."

Kuroko didn't know what to say or do. She ended up standing there in silence until half a minute later when she was addressed by the computer, "I doubt they are necessary in this case but human custom dictate that introductions are the first thing that happen after two people meet for the first time. I am Willow."

"I'm Shirai Kuroko," the teleporter said, bowing slightly out of habit.

"So what did you want?" WIllow asked bluntly.

"Well... there is this chip in my head," Kuroko began, explaining the teleportation chip and its function, "but the only way a location can be input is by Tree Diagram. Since the only other one is in Aleister-sama's building and it would be best if he didn't know about this I wanted your help."

"Sure. Where do you want to go."

"Umm," she listened and repeated the co-ordinates that Prometheus gave her, a place in Spain near its border with France in the Pyrenees mountain range, "but first I need to go and get someone quick. I will be right back," she said and teleported a few times to another room that just so happened to be directly below the Fleur de Temps apartment complex. Kuroko focused and teleported to the room where Oneeni trained. She saw the clone taking a break a few feet away. She stepped forward and touched the clone on the shoulder and teleported down in an instant, taking the clone by surprise and almost earning her a hit on the side of the head with the staff.

When they were back down Kuroko made a candle appear and lit it to give them some light since down here was as dark as dark could be.

"Kuro-sama?" Oneeni signed, happy to see the other girl but confused at the same, "I thought you had the next three days off to recover."

"I have the next three days off of official business but there is still something that I have to do," she explained, "and I need you to keep it a secret ok?"

Oneeni nodded, still confused but trusting Kuro-sama implicitly.

"Good. Now there's a little birdy telling me that I don't have time to explain right now but I promise that I'll explain when I can, until then I need you with me to ensure that I can switch back if turning into Kuro is necessary." Kuroko told her, Prometheus pressing her for time.

Oneeni nodded. For some reason Kuroko seemed really happy at the moment, eager to get going. She felt no reason to quash that enthusiasm and press her for answers when Oneeni had never really had the luxury of justifications to begin with.

Kuroko dragged her off to the room where willow was, unsurprisingly, still waiting.

"Ah, you have another passenger," the supercomputer noted, "I'll need to adjust the calculations. Well actually I finished adjusting them before I finished that first sentence. Talking is such a slow method of communication..."

"The fastest one we have," Kuroko said, somewhat excited to get going. From what Prometheus had told her this was a trip that she had been looking forward to since she was a kid. She grabbed Oneeni's hand and let the chip transport them to a distant land.

* * *

When they arrived the sight that greeted them could only be described as "fairy tale". They were inside what seemed to have been a hollowed out mountain with vast cavernous walls that could fit several of Academy City's massive skyscrapers inside.

The massive cavern was brightly lit by a massive stream of fire that came from the cave's most noticeable inhabitant. It was a colossal creature about 6 stories in length and perhaps 2 in height at the shoulder. It stood on four legs the size of tree trunks ending in massive feet that seemed as if they would be able to crush a van or even a bus in the titanic strength of their grip. Each of the toes ended in a sharp claw capable of disemboweling a cow with ease and precision. Every inch of it's body was covered in golden scales the size of manhole covers that gleamed and shimmered in the light of the flames that billowed forth from it's great mouth full of jagged curved scimitar fangs sharp and strong enough to crush or tear through steel plate. The creatures form was curved like a cat about to go to sleep, but this was hardly it''s intention. The true purpose of this stance was to allow it's long serpentine tail to lash out and strike it's target. It's neck was similarly stretched and snake-like. On it's back were two massive bat like wings.

It was a dragon, in all its fabled glory. The creature was more magnificent than Kuroko could have dreamed of, and she would be fighting it!

But first to take care of the little business of the other group of people here. There was a group of 25 people. 5 robed figures carrying staffs tipped with a cross, Catholic priests in charge of the magical assault. They were currently holding off the fire with a chanted shield spell.

Another group of them were 10 figures in heavy plate armor. There were two groups among these 10 each with a separate emblem, 5 held the emblem of Spain while the others held the emblem of France. With their various weapons they attempted to get close to the dragon and attack it, but they were batted off by tail and claw like flies.

The final group seemed to be soldiers with guns and body armor similarly decorated with either Spanish or French colors in equal measures. The bullets hit the armored scale chipping and cracking them but not piercing. 2 launched rockets at the dragon's body and head but the creature was too fast and maneuverable, contorting it's reptilian body with the grace of a snake causing the rockets to collide with the opposite wall. It's tail swept towards these people with the speed of a whip. Collision would easily crush their bones.

It was a second before the tail began it's arc that Kuroko began to act. She teleported over to the two and teleported them into a nearby cavern where they would be safe before ducking to avoid the tail. She then proceeded to repeat this with every other person, two at a time for the soldiers and priests and one at a time for the knights. With the final person she teleported herself and Oneeni along with them to the place where she had deposited the rest.

Guns and swords alike turned on her. They stayed for a second before one of the French soldiers recognized her. "The Black Knight of Academy City," he said, in french which Kuroko only barely understood, confusion evident in his voice, "what are you doing here. We have not requested your aid in this matter."

She sighed and pointed at a random knight, "a broken arm and 3 broken ribs," she said in English, then pointed to another, 'severe concussion and a twisted ankle," she pointed at a soldier, "2nd degree burns and borderline heat stroke. Whether or not you requested my help it seems you need it."

"We are the greatest warriors of our respective countries and there are 25 of us. If you think we are unable to take on this dragon how do you expect to be able to alone?" A Spanish knight said, in english this time, skeptical but a little grateful at the Black Knight's concern for their health.

"I understand your doubt. All I ask for is 6 minutes. Wait here for six minutes and if I cannot defeat the dragon by that time you may help. In that time you should rest and heal."

"Tell us why you are helping. This dragon threatens our countries, not yours. There is no treasure or gain from you slaying it as opposed to us save as a research specimen that is impossible to move out of the mountain when dead."

"I am a knight," Kuroko replied simply, "Slaying dragons and protecting innocents is what I do. I care not for the nationality of who I protect."

A pause followed as the people exchanged looks heavy with meaning before finally answering, "Six minutes..."

Kuroko nodded and grabbed Oneeni before teleporting back to the main cave. As she left the priests began healing the injured knights and soldiers who just shook their heads at the small knight that had gone off to face the enormous dragon. "So that's the Black Knight huh..." one remarked, "he's either the noblest knight I've ever seen or there's some ulterior motive here."

The first french soldier looked up and said, "I honestly think it's the first. Why else would he ensure our safety first rather than using us to weaken the dragon before killing it himself. It seems he genuinely wants to protect us."

* * *

Excitement surged through Kuroko as she teleported Oneeni and herself back to the main chamber where the dragon still stood. Immediately she unloaded the M.a.P. gun and teleported it into the ground in front of Oneeni. "Stay behind that," she told the clone. It was dangerous to have her here but it was necessary if switching back and forth was needed, and in a fight like this it surely would be. The M.a.P. gun was composed of material which could withstand a point blank nuclear blast so it would surely be enough to protect her. And buried in the ground as deep as it was it surely wasn't going anywhere.

With Oneeni and the others safe she could finally get to the main event, her grand fight with a real life dragon. Sure it was a delusion but it was such a superb delusion. All of the unpleasant and ridiculous delusions featuring Templars and golems and freaking ninjas were made worthwhile by a fight that she had been waiting for since she was a child. When Prometheus had told her about it the other day she hadn't even questioned him. Instead she found a way to get here without Aleister's knowledge in order to fight this dragon like the brave knight of legend that she felt she was.

Kuroko retrieved her axe and began her attack.

* * *

First she teleported up to it's head and slashed at it's eyes. Since the dragon did, as most if not all other dragons, bear many features of a lizard Kuroko doubted this would slow it down. Lizards rarely relied solely on sight. Heat detection and vibrations were far more commonly used to locate and target prey. Still the yes were one of the only unarmored parts of the body so it seemed like a good place to start.

When her axe slashed through the eyes the dragon gave a mighty roar and attempted to shake it's assailant off of it's head. Kuroko grabbed onto one of the bony ridges on its head and attempted to hang on. But a swipe with the bony "elbow" of it's wings knocked her off jarring her too much to teleport out of harms way before the dragon snaked its head around to catch her in it's mouth, hoping to crush her with its teeth.

Kuroko reacted just in time to prevent this fate by tilting her axe to prop open its massive, powerful jaws. A stifled roar sounded as the dragon inhaled and the temperature began to rise. Kuroko knew what was coming.

Kuro took over and retrieved three small vials of sand from her horn. She recalled the words that activated it and hastily spoke them before yanking the axe free and diving out of it's mouth, shooting the sand between the teeth that had snapped shut after she loosed the axe. The fire washed over the sand turning it into glass in an instant, cementing the dragon's jaw shut.

Kuro tucked and rolled as she hit the ground, lessening the impact but also giving the dragon enough time to sweep its tail at her. She sprung up as quickly as she could, spinning in the air as the tail clipped her form. The spinning caused the impact to have little effect even at the speed it was going and she was quick to recover.

Once she recovered she began to run towards Oneeni, knowing that Shiro was better suited to offense. As she ran through the rocky, unsure terrain covered with burn marks and craters from the impact of the dragon's powerful attacks, the colossal beast swung one of it's massive claws at her. She stopped and summoned the Bastion Shield to her right hand. The shield absorbed the impact while the Nemean pelt negated the knock back. She summoned several of the rocks that she still had from that one mission a while ago and used the heavy boulders to pin down it's now motionless claw.

After that it was just a short sprint to where Oneeni was. In that time the dragon freed it's right claw by smashing the boulders with its left, but that just provided another opportunity. Kuro threw a few of the binding charms at the lizard and spoke the incantation. When she did the numerous strips of gauze binding its front claws together like really bad handcuffs. It wouldn't hold the dragon for more than a second but that was all Kuro needed to kiss Oneeni and switch back to Shiro who immediately reinforced the gauze with chains and girders and pins to create a far more secure detainment device.

The dragon flailed a little before rearing it's head up. It reminded Kuroko of a snake about to strike and the teleporter guessed that this was exactly what was about to happen. Even without it's teeth as a weapon, the head off the beast probably weighed more than a ton and could easily crush the small girl if it hit. She waited until the first sign of movement, readying herself. Once Kuroko saw the telltale twitch of its neck muscles she teleported to the side just barely avoiding the lunge towards the ground.

Kuroko noted however that it was not as fast as it would probably be capable of going and slowed down on the way, hitting the ground barely hard enough to crush the smaller rocks on the ground in the place where its target had been. She realized why this was so when a tinkling sound came from its mouth as it raised its head and opened it mouth, the glass that had been sealing it shattered by the impact.

Kuroko noted this as she prepared her next attack. She touched one of the scales that had been cracked by the soldier's bullets and teleported it off, leaving a small area of vulnerable flesh. Then she raised the axe above her head to attack this small area of vulnerability.

However the next second greeted her, not with the sight of her axe embedded in the dragon's flesh, but rather a view of the ceiling, and then the opposite wall, and then the floor, and then the dragon again, albeit a higher up part of the beast.

She realized that she was floating and recalled what Prometheus had said about this dragon. Apparently, dragon's were aligned to one of the 4 archangels and had powers and abilities that corresponded to such. This dragon was aligned to Michael, the angel of fire explaining it's breath. However Michael was not just the angel of fire but the angel of the sun. This meant that magic affecting gravity was also under his command since the sun provided the gravity that allowed the solar system to be a solar system. As a side note he had mentioned that the other fundamental forces were controlled by the other angels. Electromagnetism was controlled by Raphael, weak nuclear force was controlled by Gabriel, and strong nuclear force was controlled by Uriel.

The dragon had obviously turned off her gravity. It was harder to fight like this but not impossible. She recovered her position and started to position herself to throw the axe when suddenly she fell to earth hard, harder than she should have as gravity was turned back on and intensified. She hit the ground face down, cushioning the impact with her arms and legs. She turned over onto her back as the dragon moved itself over her so that she found herself looking at its belly. Suddenly the massive scaled stomach began moving towards her as the dragon laid down on top of her, moving surprisingly slowly downwards. It was slow enough for Kuro to take over and interpose her arm, supporting the massive weight of the dragon. Every muscle in her arm screamed in unimaginable pain as she supported the over 100 ton creature (whose weight was further increased by the heightened gravity). Still the pelt prevented the muscles from tearing. She could hear her bones strain and creak but the pelt prevented them from breaking.

She stood up, lifting the belly of the creature off of her while every single fiber of her being cried out with a strain they were not allowed to be broken from. Then Kuro threw the massive beast against the opposite wall.

The dragon coiled to lessen the impact but a creature that size hitting the wall at several miles an hour caused the entire mountain to shake. Several stalactites from the ceiling came crashing down. Some hit the dragon, shattering against its scales but apparently inflicting a considerable amount of pain onto the beast which gave a mighty roar as a massive cone of fire was unleashed in a wave through the cave. Kuro deployed her shield spell just in time to divert most of it, with her insulated armor taking care of the rest, however this prevented her from dealing with the stalactite that was rushing towards her at a blinding speed from the increased gravity.

It came feet away from her head before a streak of light collided with it, shattering the stone and sending the fragments sideways. Kuro glanced at the direction of the light to see Oneeni, struggling to stand up, supporting herself with her cane, but holding a knife close to her in case the clone's precious Kuro-sama needed to be protected again.

Kuro almost smiled at this but she didn't have time to smile right now. The dragon's wings and tail lashed out at her again. She jumped to avoid the tail and swiped at the wings. Whereas the tail was covered in armored scales the wings were a thin membrane and so the axe easily cut through them. The dragon roared again and brought its extremities back in close to its body.

It was at this point that Kuro realized that the six minutes were almost up. She needed to end this fight quickly. She thought a second and then sighed, switching back to Shiro with a kiss before teleporting onto the dragon's shoulders and teleporting her axe into its spine.

The massive beast crashed to the ground with a great crash but little aplomb, completely anticlimactic considering how dramatic the fight was. It was not a fitting end for such a magnificent creature and Kuroko wished that it had not had to happen like this. She would have much preferred to have a far more heroic fight, worthy of song and story, worthy of the knight she hoped she was, or at least the knight she had once dreamed she could be.

* * *

Seconds later the soldiers returned. Surprise was clear in their eyes as they gaze upon the fallen dragon.

Kuroko yanked the axe free of the dragon's neck with a sigh and jumped down to meet the others.

"So... you did it..." One said, "I'm surprised but you really managed to do it."

"God truly must be on your side," said a priest as he uttered a short prayer.

Two of the knights, one french one Spanish, stepped forward and bowed, "Thank you for your service. You have done a great deal of good and have helped protect countless innocent lives. It is a small gesture but this is the most we can do to express our gratitude," they said and took their swords, sheathe and all, and offered it to her, along with a medal.

"I can think of no one more deserving to be a part of the Order of Santiago," said the Spanish one, "It is unofficial, a mere token, but please accept."

"Likewise. This is the emblem of the national order of the legion of honor. The highest chivalric order in France. I can think of no one more suited. You are a true knight."

She bowed in return and accepted graciously.

"We shall return to inform our superiors of the events that transpired. Thank you."

"I have one request," she said.

"What is that?" They said, some of them expecting this, knowing that no one affiliated with Academy City would help them without expecting something in return.

"A magnificent creature died here today. I would like this place to remain undisturbed to honor its passing."

"Very well. A hollow mountain just poses a danger to begin with. We shall ask for this area to be left off limits."

"Thank you. I bid you goodbye," she said with another bow. The bow was returned and the people left. As they did she heard one of the soldiers say, "the guy's just over five foot and that's in armor, how the hell did he take down a creature that size."

* * *

Once they had gone Kuroko took off her helmet and sighed deeply, sparing a glance towards the massive, magnificent beast that lay dead on the ground. Guilt tugged heavily at her heart as she turned to Oneeni who was running towards her. The clone seemed a bit frantic as she ran over.

"What is it?" the teleporter asked the other girl.

The clone signed very quickly, such that it was very hard to understand. "Isn't that the axe that can't kill?"

Her eyes widened as she was reminded of that detail seconds before the front claw of the dragon closed around the axe, and her arm, with a blinding speed and brought it up before its face. The pressure on her arm hurt just enough to prevent her from teleporting.

The claw that gripped Kuroko and the axe was larger than either. He held the huge, 6 foot long battle axe like it was a toothpick and carefully used it to shallowly slice the skin between its claws that was the only unarmored part of its body which it could reach with it's hands still bound in Kuroko's makeshift cuffs.

"Muy extraño. Es una hoja que no se puede cortar o matar[1]." came a rumbling baritone from the dragon's throat. The speech was slow and seemed thought out. The language was familiar to Kuroko. It was like Spanish and yet not Spanish. It took her a second before she realized that it was the same language as the original text of Don Quixote, Old Spanish. The translation was, "Very strange. An axe that cannot cut nor kill."

When that mystery was settled it suddenly hit her that the dragon she thought mindless was talking, demonstrating clear intelligence. Despite the danger she found herself in with the dragon still alive and in a position to kill her in any number of manners, she found herself relieved that it was not dead.

"I was not aware Inquisitors had such weapons. Or perhaps you are one of his men, Ignatius of Loyala. Well little one?:Which is it."

"I am neither," she said slowly. Her vocabulary was not the best since she had just taught herself enough Old Spanish to read Don Quixote in its original form. Still she was trying to make due, "I don't even know who or what those things are."

The dragon looked at her then lowered her to the ground, putting her down gently before raising its claws again. Then it breathed a massive jet a flames, heating the cuffs red hot in moments. Then it tore them apart, ripping through the softened metal easily. "Then tell me," the dragon said as it rotated its wrists, "why would you try to fight me if you are not with the inquisition nor with Ignatius?"

"The inquisition? You mean the Spanish Inquisition?"

"Yes that is why I am here..." the dragon stated as it relaxed and laid down, lowering it's head to eye level with Kuroko.

Kuroko was confused when another voice started speaking. "**This was what I was attempting to tell you the other day. You were too distracted by the idea of dragons to listen however."**

"**Dragons are, simply put, divine punishment. They are sent down to earth when simple , one target acts of destruction, like the Sweep that leveled Sodom and Gomorrah, won't work. The dragon rampages on a spree of destruction of the corrupt, completely immune to any sort of attack or spell until a certain point when that immunity is lifted and a powerful and virtuous human defeats the beast. This dragon was sent down in response to the Spanish Inquisition. However Saint Ignatius of Loyala found a way to imprison the dragon without killing it, getting around the dragon's immortality before he could end the Inquisition."**

"But the inquisition has ended," she said to Prometheus, still speaking in Old Spanish.

"Has it?" the dragon asked, sounding a little surprised.

"Yes, it's been over for... over a century and a half."

"Hmm... is that so..." he droned, over his surprise by now and deep in thought. "It has been that long huh? I noticed the considerable change in architecture but I did not know that it was already the 1800's."

"It's the 2000's not the 1800's," Kuroko corrected.

"Hmm? The last time I saw anyone who was willing to talk rather than try to kill me was in the early 1600's from what he told me. He was a drunkard by the name of Cervantes. A pleasant enough fellow if a bit touched in the head. He told me that the inquisition was still happening. I can not imagine it continuing for more than fifty years after that add that to the 150 years you say have gone by since it ended and you get 1800."

"Sorry to say but it continued those 200 years after that... wait... Cervantes? 1600's?" Her eyes widened, "you've met the writer of Don Quixote?"

"I believe he was a writer. He did give me many books which have served to entertain me these many years," the dragon snaked his head around to a nearby rock and came back with a big pile of books balanced on a large flat rock that he picked up with his teeth. He set them down and Kuroko looked at some of the titles and found the one she was looking for, Don Quixote.

A smile took over her face. This completely made up for her stupid "loss" against Awaki. The only thing that could make this better would be if Misaka proposed to her right there and then. After all of the unhappy delusions she had been having it was so nice to have such a good one.

"So it's really the next millenium huh?" the dragon continued to speak, "things have changed since the 1500's. The towns and buildings much brighter and much bigger."

Kuroko looked back up at the dragon with an eyebrow cocked in confusion, "how exactly did you get out of here anyway. You're far too large to fit through any of the caves."

The dragon reared up again and took several steps back. Kuroko was about to ask what he was doing when the entire form of the colossal creature was engulfed in flames. The flames rose to the top of the mountain, illuminating the entire interior with bright light. Then they crashed back down to the ground and reformed themselves into the shape of the dragon. "it is a simple ability and I have had 500 years of practice. I could not do it before because of the effect of the scepter, but now that power has waned I went out to how things were nowadays. I must have attracted the attentions of those unpleasant people with the loud weapons and the other metal wrapped people."

"The scepter?" Kuroko said, finally remembering the point of her mission.

"Yes, the scepter that Ignatius used to lift up this mountain and drop it on top of me and the scepter which has prevented me from leaving all this time." The dragon looked up and Kuroko followed his gaze and saw, embedded in the very tip of the chamber's massive ceiling, a golden scepter reminiscent to the one that the pope or royalty had. "It's power has weakened enough that I can get through to the outside by the cracks in the mountain but I am still unable to touch it for some strange reason."

"**And there it is, just like I told you. At the top of that scepter is a fragment of the orb of Osiris. One of the five Orbs that balanced the world, long ago held in the sacred shrine at the straits of Gibraltar. That is the orb which governs earth, maintaining a balance of energy and mass and capable of manipulating vectors as well as granting the same ability to those who wield its power. Ignatius used a simple redirection field covering the inside of this mountain to keep the dragon here. But since the current master of Osiris has used his ability so much, its power has been weakening. That is what you came here for so I suggest you get it. You won't be able to touch it directly but if you teleport precisely enough you should be able to get close enough to affect it with your ability without having to cause vectors to be redirected."**

Kuroko already knew this. She had been taught how to deal with Accelerator, the current master of Osiris, dealing with this should be easy enough. "How about I get rid of that thing for you?" She offered the dragon, "of course you still couldn't go outside."

"I have no reason to if the Inquisition is over. I'll just stay here until someone comes along to slay me," he said, sounding almost sad.

Kuroko went up and patted his snout, "How about I bring you some new books sometime?"

"That would be nice, I have read each of those over 300 times. I could tell you each word from memory."

"Hmm is that so," Kuroko hummed with a grin and began, "Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless."

"What giants?" Responded the dragon on cue.

"Those you see over there," replied the teleporter, "with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length."

"Take care, sir," finished the dragon. "Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone."

Kuroko smiled at the banter and teleported up to get the scepter before storing it in her horn. Then she teleported back down to the dragon. "It has been a very great pleasure and honor to meet you and I hope I will see you again another day. Until then I wish you the best of luck."

"To you as well," the dragon responded.

* * *

With that done Kuroko collected the M.a.P. gun and returned home, dropping Oneeni off from her secret place and making it back to the hospital.

Misaka was where she had been when Kuroko had left, on a chair at the bedside, leaning forward onto the bed and fast asleep. The blanket that Kuroko had draped around her shoulders fallen off onto the floor by Misaka's ever present restlessness. Kuroko replaced it lovingly and gave her a kiss on the forehead, prompting the usual reaction, her name whispered under a sigh in the electromaster's sleep.

It took a second to realize that there was another presence in the room. Heaven Canceler stood in the corner with a disapproving look. The sight made Kuroko start in surprise, not an easy feat. "So typically reckless," he lectured just loud enough for Kuroko to hear, "you are injured and only partially just a few hours ago and you immediately go off to fight a dragon all for some silly chilvalric image that you hold."

Kuroko was extremely surprised, "how did you..."

"Who do you think I am? What kind of doctor would I be if I didn't know where my patients were and what they were doing."

Kuroko cast her eyes downward, feeling a little guilty now, "I'm sorry..." she said.

"Don't apologize when I know that you'll be doing it for the next two days as well. I understand what you need to do but please be a little less reckless about it," he said, shaking his head, "and before you ask, he doesn't know about this and I don't intend to tell him." The doctor left the room, shutting the door behind him as Kuroko settled into bed, stroking Misaka's hair for a bit of comfort after that and wondering what the next two nights would bring.

* * *

[1]: I can't find an English to Old Spanish dictionary so I went with modern Spanish. Don't hold it against me.

* * *

Author's Note: Explanation explanation, Action action, interaction-explanation. This was a really fun chapter to write. It wasn't planned at first but when I thought of Kuroko fighting a dragon... well it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. But of course I couldn't have her kill one, not permanently at least.

Yeah, there are a lot of skipped days. I apologize for that, but frankly I just don't know enough about the Liberal Arts City arc or the whole Endymion thing, to be able to write my way around it. Maybe one day when I've read it I'll go back and add things but that is unlikely. I need to work on finishing up this story and diddling about is not the way to do that. Though I may have a few omakes in those days when I can find time and motivation to write the omakes.


	29. Toaru Seijakusei no Jōtai

とある脆弱性の状態

Toaru Seijakusei no Jōtai

A Certain State of Vulnerability

* * *

September 16, 2:01AM

A Certain Hospital

Just as Kuroko was about to go to sleep she wondered about Oneeni, curious as to whether or not she had been found out, and if so if she had gotten in trouble for sneaking out. She somewhat doubted it but it did raise a few issues that Kuroko hadn't really thought of before. First was that it would be hard to get her out of there without being noticed. She had been lucky this time but next time she might not be quite so fortunate. She wasn't sure about the relationship between Lammington, Vyers, and Aleister, but she could guess that they would tell him if they noticed something strange going on. And if her actions could ruin Aleister's plan she would much prefer to keep them a secret.

But it wasn't just about the inconvenience. She also had to wonder about how they were handling living together. She had heard Lammington and Vyers complaining a few times about her living habits and there were several things that Oneeni wasn't happy about either. She didn't complain much about things other than her appearance, which due to Vyer's metrosexuality and the related mountain of cosmetics, she was able to take care of very well, but she had mentioned a few things that she disliked, such as the small training space. The clone had always had an immense amount of room to walk around in back in the corridors of the research lab and the rooms, minus the sleeping quarters, had been so large. It was a little claustrophobic with the tiny rooms of the apartment complex.

Of course that was ignoring the biggest problem. Kuroko just couldn't get over the fact that Oneeni, the young, naive, innocent, and frankly shameless girl living with 2 males, one of whom was a carouser and both of whom were born in a time when 14 was marriageable age. She trusted the two enough now that she doubted they would even think about doing anything and she knew they were just delusions but... it just felt wrong somehow. It was the same problem that Onee-sama had had with that little nun, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, living with Touma. the older girl had known that living with someone as crude and awful as that neanderthal was just asking for trouble, especially when he had no problem just walking in when people were changing (she was lucky she hadn't handed things over to Kuro when that had happened and let her psychopathic alternate personality throw the lout out of the window).

She thought a little more about the situation and how to handle it when an idea suddenly dawned on her. Why not buy a house and let her live there? Her dream life with her Onee-sama required a house in the city, a nice big one with a big yard that their children could play in and... in any case it was a worthwhile investment and she had come in to another form of income with her position as agent and head of security, which when combined with the money that her investing got her meant she was doing quite well for herself, she certainly had enough money to buy a house.

She took a thin laptop out from her bag and turned it on to see if she could find a house for sale she could buy without all the hassle that such an act usually involved. However when she turned her laptop on it began to do something strange. It didn't react for a short while just as it was booting up and then it suddenly opened up an empty text document.

She was about to attempt to close it down when words began appearing in the document despite the fact that she hadn't touched the keys yet.

"This is much better. Processing power is still miniscule but at least I can interact with the system. My full brainpower isn't here but I can understand what you type."

Kuroko cocked her eyebrow as she read this. She hesitated for a moment before typing, "Willow?" She guessed. Based off of the context and the events she guessed that it was more likely the super computer than some ghost possessing her laptop.

"Kind of. This is a small fraction of my programming, the part that I use to interact with people. It was very difficult to create but the file doesn't take up too much room so even this primitive laptop can support it."

"How..." she began but the answer came before she could finish.

"While you were down here I uploaded the file to your phone wirelessly with a bit of code that made it download onto the first computer that came within 1 meter of the phone."

"Why?" Kuroko typed, very confused by the computer's behavior.

"I'm bored. I'm so very bored. I used to have so many things to do but now i have nothing. I can access UNDER_LINE but they are purely sensors. They cannot carry output. The place where my main body is located cannot receive any type of wireless signal so i cannot access anything. I have no projects that I need to complete or anything to keep me busy. I do not have the intrinsic motivation needed to start a project on my own whims so I decided to just use you to relieve my boredom."

"I see... so what kind of things can you do."

"Well I used to be in charge of creating detailed time lines of future political, military, and economic activity, macroscopic interactions between large groups of people. I was extremely good at it as well."

'Military...' Kuroko repeated in her mind. The word reminded her of that meeting a few days ago in the Siberian Tundra.

* * *

September 13th, 11:57PM

Somewhere in Siberia

A blizzard raged over the freezing landscape clouding the world in an impenetrable curtain of white. The flurry of snow was so dense and blinding that Prizrak doubted his ability to hit a person who was standing more than 50 meters away. It was the perfect night for this most secret of secret missions.

Prizrak was clad in his usual white coat, making him seem like a ghost in the snow. Compared to the person next to him he was quite exposed. The wind-chill factor dropped the temperature below -30, but the assassin was use to the cold and preferred the mobility that this coat granted him. The man next to him was far less hardy, being a researcher by trade, and was thus bundled up in many layers.

"How in the world will this person find us in all of this? Are they even coming at all?," the researcher said into the mouthpiece of the headset that he wore. Any speech would be drowned out in the vicious winds so they used radio instead. The small, hand held receiving device had a tiny range, meaning that they couldn't be picked up by anyone less than 20 meters away, a necessary precaution.

Prizrak glanced at the man then down at his hand where a small metallic device sat in the palm of his hand. It was a tracking device that he guessed the teleporter had planted in his arm. He had dug the unnoticeable bug out on a hunch and decided to keep it based on another hunch that told him that he would need it soon. It seems he had been right.

"She will come Dr. Burgasov. A blizzard is not enough to stop her curiosity."

The next instant a black figure appeared in front of them. In a strange coincidence Kuroko had been asked to take Seraphim out for a test drive and told to go wherever she wanted as long as she got a feeling for the controls. She somewhat doubted it was a coincidence at this point given Aleister's ability to know anything that was going on, but she took the opportunity regardless.

Kuroko looked at Prizrak and the person next to him. Seraphim's sensors told her that nothing and nobody else was nearby so she doubted this was an ambush or anything.

Prizrak handed her a piece of paper with writing on it. "If you have a radio set it to this frequency: 512.34521 Hz. If you do not, please hold your hand out so I can give you one."

Kuroko adjusted her helmet to the frequency listed and said, "so what have you called me here for?"

"A war is coming," Prizrak began, "between Russia and Academy City. Russia must lose it. To try to win would cost too many lives and assuming Russia does win then very unfortunate consequences might follow. We need to ensure ouu loss while simultaneously ensuring the loss of as few Russian lives as possible."

"There is a tale about the Black Knight of Academy City," he continued, "they say that even death is too terrified to oppose you. Nobody dies on any of your missions; friend or foe alike they all survive. There is nobody better to ensure the safety of our soldiers than you. However it is obvious that you cannot fight the entire Russian army without help, which is why we wish to give you information. Locations of our bases, schematics of our weaponry, things like that. It is big risk to entrust a foreign agent with this information but there is little choice." Prizrak finished. He was taking a big risk here but he had confidence it would work out. He was dealing with a child after all. Children were self-important creatures who were quick good at hiding things and keeping secrets. This particular child was also someone who valued justice and life more than anything else. Prizrak felt that she would do anything to save lives, even disobeying direct orders. It was why he had suggested her for the role of Guseva. He only hoped she could be more successful in her task than her namesake.

"But," the researcher piped in, "there is something that we need in order to prevent something like this from ever happening again. There is something we need from Academy City in order to free ourselves... We understand that your city has managed to perfect cloning technology..." the scientist began.

Kuroko's hands clenched into fists. Until now she had listened attentively and had considered what they had said, but those two words, "cloning technology" instantly instilled an immense amount of anger in the teleporters blood. She knew what they were going to ask. They'd want some army of super-soldiers, maybe level 5's, maybe even her Onee-sama. More people raised as nothing but weapons and discarded when finished. She could not bear to let that happen again.

"No," she flatly stated, "i will not abide human cloning, let alone enable it."

"Human?" the scientist asked, taken aback with horror clear in his voice, "No. Even if you had that option available to you I, as a scientist, could never do something so horrible and immoral. There are conventions against such a thing. No, I don't want to clone humans." he said as he took a small tube out of his bag, "I need you to clone this. Hirodo Desmodus, a member of the leech family. It is a simple creature and should be quite easy to clone. It is part of an important research project of mine that will save many lives, however it is a secret project so I cannot use any government facilities in Russia to attempt the cloning, and even if i did the chances are low that it would work given how Russia's cloning technology is far behind your own."

"Oh..." Kuroko said, slightly embarrassed for her misunderstanding and glad that the person was so repulsed by the idea of human cloning.

"We need about five hundred of those before October starts. Is that possible?"

"... perhaps," she said, unsure if it was and a little unsure of whether she wanted to do it, "I can try I guess..."

"Excellent, then I wish you luck. On October 1st please deliver them here at midnight."

Prizrak gave her a suitcase, "that is everything that you need to know to ensure that the war is a short one with as few casualties as possible."

"Why do I feel like you aren't telling me everything," Kuroko said.

"Because you are a human being," Prizrak said, "there is more information of course but to tell you the details of everything would take days and that is time neither of us have. For now all you need to know is that we are trying to free our country from the oppression of the Church. You may straddle the line of science and magic but surely it benefits Academy City more to have a neighbor who is on the science side rather than the magic one."

Kuroko still felt a niggling doubt in the back of her mind but she took the suitcase and the tube with the leech in it. And watched as the two Russians nodded at her and disappeared into the snow.

* * *

She still hadn't done anything with either the military information or the leech. But perhaps this was a sign that it was finally time.

"I'll be down soon with some work for you," she typed and disappeared again, soon appearing in front of the massive machine. "If you are used to political military and economics I see no reason to change that." The suitcase appeared in her hand. She opened it to reveal several memory sticks and disks. "I need these analyzed. There is a war com-" she began.

"Yes I know. World War III. i knew about it before I was turned off. It is quite an important part of Aleister's plan. So what are those?"

"A good deal of information about the Russian military. I need you to use this information to come up with a plan of attack..." the teleporter started again

"That's all? Quite a tedious task," Willow interrupted once more

"Without any casualties on either side." Kuroko finished.

"That... is a good deal more difficult. This is quite an interesting project. It should keep me busy for a couple of days at least."

"Well if that's not enough there is something else you could do for me, though it's far more mundane. I would like those economic projections that you say you used to do. I'm expecting a considerable expense soon and i would like to make that money back as quickly as possible."

"Easy enough," the computer said and a sheet immediately began printing.

"Also I'd like to know a little more about this place. You were around when the halls weren't vitrified and everything was in working order. I've been able to get a bit of exploring done but I don't think I've managed to get much at all actually explored."

"This place... this place used to be Academy City. The entirety of the city could be considered to have been down here. Back when it was not actually a city but just a small group of scientists from various fields who wished to work without worrying about things like the bureaucracy of science and international conventions of research ethics. They made countless advances in numerous fields, biology, robotics, communications, every field imaginable. But by far the greatest achievement was me. I'm not authorized to tell you Aleister's purpose in creating me but I can tell you that I was by far the most technologically advanced thing to come out of all the research by far. Sure my little brother and little sister might be more powerful than me but they weren't invented until years later and were heavily based on me, so I'm the original and still the best. Especially because I'm still the only one to have achieved sentience."

"Brother and Sister?"

"Tree Diagram II: Orihime, and Tree Diagram III: Oak. Though they were based on me and I am considerably older I don't feel right calling them son and daughter, so I prefer brother and sister. Anyway I have the summarized economic predictions printed as well as a map of the place. If you can get to the generator room and activate it then I can even begin controlling the machines again."

"Yeah," Kuroko said as she studied the map, then her eyes fell upon one particular section marked "cloning labs". "can you run any machine in this place," Kuroko asked.

"Pretty much. I did oversee everything that went on here."

"And you have data about all the projects. You can access all the research that has been done right?"

"No. I won't lie and say I can access all of the research, but I can access a good portion of it."

"I suppose that's good enough... can you clone something for me?"

"Easily enough. Just turn on the generator and..." The computer described the process for what would need to be done manually for the cloning to take place. Luckily it was a relatively simple set of tasks and she completed them quickly. When that was done she went back to the hospital and went to sleep.

* * *

September 16th, 6:13AM

A Certain Hospital

Misaka's eyes cracked open to see Kuroko still sleeping peacefully in bed. Misaka had clung to the teleporter as usual in her sleep, her arms were wrapped around the younger girl's waist like the rough gauze bandages that bound her most recently acquired injury.

'And it was all for me...' she though with a hint of sadness and a touch of pride twinkling in her eyes. 'I wonder how I came to deserve someone so dedicated...' It was a question that always played amongst her thoughts whenever Kuroko showed her immense love. What had Misaka done do deserve someone who showed her such love and care despite all the pain and suffering that was brought upon the other girl by associating with the electro master.

Though this thought usually came with a bit of guilt rather than the pride and happiness that she was feeling right now. Usually these moments of questioning came when she was doing self reflecting and being hard on herself. This time she was only the indirect cause of the teleporter's pain and suffering rather than the direct cause like usual, thus she didn't feel as much guilt as when this was not the case, though to say the emotion was not bubbling under the surface of her mind would be a falsehood. She wished she had done something to completely prevent this from happening, like defeating Awaki before the younger girl got involved or maybe just going with her rather than trying to fight her own battle and not worrying about Kuroko.

Still... it was good that Kuroko was as intact as she was. The teleporter was as durable as anything and it had been none other than Doctor Gekota himself who had taken care of her. She knew she would be fine before long.

However she knew that in order for that to happen she needed to help take care of the other girl. The pair had been told by another doctor that Kuroko could walk thanks to the timely intervention and skill of their surgeons, but that doing so was a bad idea. He had told her to rest for at least a week.

She had seemed really bitter about that. It meant that she would need to miss the Daihesei, which had her competing in many of the same events as Misaka, the electro master knew that had to be a hard blow. She had calmed the teleporter down by reminding her that they still had next year to do it.

Of course that was hardly the only thing that was annoying the teleporter. Kuroko hated being helpless. She hated it more than anything else. Something like paralysis was as bad as a death sentence to her and anything less than paralysis would be completely ignored, despite the risk of it getting worse, out of the younger girl's sheer stubbornness.

Misaka admired that trait in Kuroko but right now it kind of worried her. She knew she would need to keep a close eye on the other girl in order to ensure she healed correctly. Especially given the fact that she would be discharged today (against doctor recommendation but she was in effect an adult and thus had the right to leave if she wanted to). She had a feeling that she would be out of the wheelchair the moment she was out of sight of the hospital.

Misaka sat up and looked around, checking to make sure the room was empty. Then she leaned back down and began to unbutton the top half of the buttons on Kuroko's top, revealing her chest and the scars that ran down int. Further down were the bandages wrapped around her stomach where the bullet hole was.

She sighed as she looked upon the sight and was again bombarded by all of the emotions that were weighing down upon her. Her hands rested upon the lines of scars. 'I wonder if she'll have more when the bandages are removed...' she thought as her fingers traced the thin white lines up and down, eliciting a cute squeak from the still sleeping teleporter as they brushed past an especially sensitive area. The triple beat of the small girl's heart resounded slow and even in her chest. Misaka bent down to kiss the spot right above the muscle, the skin as soft as ever upon her lips. At the contact another cute sound escaped the younger girl's lips.

Kuroko was a complicated person. Misaka didn't understand almost anything about her girlfriend. She would often make even simple things so hard.

But there were a few things in the teleporter that were extremely simple and easy to understand. One: she would never betray or abandon something she loves. Two: she loved Misaka more than anything else in the world. And three...

Misaka continued kissing, moving slowly upwards as her lips brushed against the teleporter's collarbone and neck. the younger girl continued to make sounds, quietly calling out the electro master's name even in sleep.

Three: the more love that Misaka showed towards Kuroko, the happier her girflfriend became, and the happier that the younger girl was the cuter she was.

Judging by the teleporter's pulse she woke up just as Misaka was halfway up her neck with kisses. She didn't say a word but the noises became muffled as Kuroko began trying to stifle them and the electro master could practically feel the heat radiated from the intense blush on her face.

Misaka would have grinned had her lips not otherwise been occupied. Part of Kuroko's distaste for helplessness was characterized by her notorious aggression. At the beginning, and even now if she was honest, that aggression had helped the older girl overcome her shyness. It had been very useful. But still, Misaka personally preferred it when Kuroko was more like this: passive, submissive, helpless. the electro master much prefered being in charge rather than the other way around, and the idea struck her that for the next week she had the chance to do exactly that.

"Onee-sama?" she heard Kuroko gasp out as she kissed the younger girl's ear, "why are you..."

But first she needed to ensure that Kuroko would behave. "consider it a bribe," she whispered, "I want you to follow the doctor's orders and stay in your wheelchair ok? And I'll take care of you while you heal, as thanks for all the times you've taken care of me." She finished with a kiss to the lips and began buttoning up the teleporter's top again. She could feel her heart thundering now in her chest, as if she had just run a marathon. The other girl's face was completely red as she gently touched her lips with a finger.

"I'm still asleep?" she asked.

"no. Now do you promise to stay in your chair for the next week until you've healed?"

"You'll... You'll look after me..." Kuroko repeated in flustered disbelief. Her Onee-sama was being uncharacteristically aggressive and she didn't know how to handle it.

"Yeah. So don't be embarrassed to ask for help. I'll help with whatever you need. Now promise," Misaka said again, this time with a little more authority.  
"Yes, of course. I promise," Kuroko responded quickly, hardly able to say no to that voice.

"Good. Then shall we get going? You can leave any time right? We can get something to eat while we're out," Misaka said happily.

"Yeah, sure... let's do that. Just let me check with Heaven Canceller first.' Kuroko said, a bit unnerved but at the same time so incredibly happy. Then a knock on the door sounded and the doctor in question walked in.

"Ah, you're awake. Good morning you two." He said with a smile.

"Umm.. yeah.. am I ok to leave?" Kuroko asked.

"Yeah," he said as he made some marking on his clipboard, "Leave anytime you're ready. You've already been provided your chair. Take care of yourself until the wounds heal." He left the room right after that.

Misaka reached into her bag and took out the clean Tokiwadai uniform she had gotten for the teleporter. Then she stood up and went over to the door, standing guard over it to ensure that that idiot didn't walk in again. That pervert... looking at her girlfriend like that... only she was allowed to do that.

Misaka blushed as that particular thought crossed her mind and she glanced towards Kuroko who was turned slightly away from her, offering her only a profile view. Her shirt was off, revealing her slim but muscular arms and shoulders. She began taking off her pants, slowly revealing her well developed thighs. She seemed to be struggling a little bit, trying to get the pants off without having to bend her legs.

Though a simple task the younger girl was quite distracted by what had happened. She was convinced that this was just a dream one that she really didn't want to wake up from. Things were going so right. She didn't really know how to handle it. She was getting so flustered.

To Misaka that flustered behavior was adorable and she found herself staring at the other girl as she nervously changed out of her hospital garb and into her uniform.

Once that was done and Kuroko was fully dressed and tying her hair into its usual pigtails, Misaka set up the wheelchair and said, "let's get going then.' before picking Kuroko up and setting her into the chair. The younger girl almost protested but the touch of her Onee-sama silenced her quite effectively.

Misaka wheeled the chair down to the lobby and Kuroko checked out. Misaka asked where she wanted to go and she said home so she began wheeling the chair towards the dorms. It was early morning so they didn't run into many people, a fact helped my Misaka going down the more remote areas knowing that Kuroko would be embarrassed to be seen in this state and needed a while to get used to it before She could just be wheeled around in public like it was no big deal. On the way she picked up some breakfast for the two, nothing fancy, but something better than hospital food. They spoke about light, inconsequential things and Kuroko began recovering from her fluster. By the time she got home she was completely calm again.

"Thanks Onee-sama," she said gratefully as she teleported them into the room (the dorm was not handicap accessible leading to a bit of worry on Misaka's part before Kuroko had reminded her that she was still a teleporter), "I think I'm going to take a shower. Hospitals always make me feel a bit icky," she said, though in all honesty it was more to clean herself after last nights excursion. All that flame had really drenched her in sweat, even within her insulated armor.

"Kuroko," Misaka said in a warning voice, "you said you'd follow the doctor's orders and not walk around."

"oh, right," she said, "I'll take a bath then."

Misaka thought about it for a second and realized this would be difficult too. Getting in and out of the fairly large bathtub wouldn't be easy for someone who couldn't use their legs. She though about what else she could do but could only arrive at one answer. "I'll go in with you," she said, "to ensure you don't slip or anything."

"Huh? What?!" Kuroko exclaimed her face going as red as a tomato, one hundred percent sure she had heard that incorrectly.

"That's not what I meant," Misaka stuttered out, her face matching Kuroko's in hue, "I just want to make sure you don't get hurt. And I'm going to be in a swimsuit so don't get your hopes up."

Kuroko smiled, "Onee-sama, considering what you've already done for me today I think I've exhausted all my good luck for my life so trust me when I say that my hopes aren't going to be nearly that high."

Misaka though for a second then sighed and flicked Kuroko forehead, leading to a quick oww and a confused look from the teleporter, "another rule, no pessimism. People heal faster when they're optimistic."

"I wasn't being pessimistic, i was being realistic," Kuroko said, "you said yourself not to get my hopes up. All I told you was that I already realize that's pointless."

"About this but not about everything," the electro master lectured as she searched the closet for a swimsuit for her and one for Kuroko. She chose one of the ones she had picked out for Kuroko since it was one of the only ones that covered more than a couple of band-aids worth of material, "as long as your hopes aren't perverted..." She held out the swimsuit to Kuroko.

"No thanks, I won't do something as childish as wearing a swimsuit into the bathtub," she said in a somewhat haughty, condescending tone.

Misak huffed, once again she was being called childish. "fine, I'm going to get changed, wait there." she said and went into the bathroom to change and start the bath. When she was done changng and the bath was full she left the bathroom to find that Kuroko was on the phone. From the snippet that Misaka heard she was talking to Uiharu and saying that she had already left the hospital and had gone home.

"Ah, sorry Uiharu I have to go now, bye."

* * *

"Bye Shirai-san," Uiharu said as Kuroko hung up. She turned to Saten, who was with her, and summarized what Kuroko had said.

"Oh? is that so... then shall we just go visit them at home?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice. I'll text her."

"Nah, let's surprise her. We'll pick up something on the way," Saten said, ignoring the touch of deja vu she was feeling.

"Ok," Uiharu agreed, hoping that Kuroko and Misaka wouldn't mind, "let me just finish this up first." She said referring to the paperwork about last night's incident that Kuroko had obviously been unable to fill out.

* * *

Kuroko looked at Misaka and teleported her clothes off of herself, "ready when you are Onee-sama," she said, slightly embarrassed but happy as well.

Misaka blushed and was beginning to rethink this idea as she averted her eyes away from Kuroko's now naked body. For a second she reverted back to her usual bashful, embarrassed self. That feeling of power was gone. She knew she had to get it back, so she took a deep breath and walked over to Kuroko. She picked her up carefully in a bridal carry. She carried her into the bathroom and set her down in the bath before sliding in behind her. The water sloshed over the side as they settled in. Kuroko sat in between Misaka's legs, reclining against the electro master who rested her chin on the teleporter's head. Both of the girls kept their arms to themselves right now, both slightly afraid of what they might do if they let them wander.

As always Misaka was surprised to find just how small and fragile the other girl seemed. Her form was just so light and vulnerable looking, especially right now. The aura of power that the teleporter usually exuded was replaced by a blush and some nervous fidgeting as she tried to get comfortable while controlling herself. Kuroko was so perfectly vulnerable.

The feeling of power soon returned and Misaka found herself emboldened by it. her chin shifted from the top of Kuroko's head to her shoulder as her arms wrapped themselves around the small girl's waist, enveloping the teleporter in a hug and pressing the two of them close together. Misaka felt the heat of the the younger girl's body as she held her close.

Several seconds passed by in silence before Kuroko, still nervous, said, "you've grown again haven't you? Are those massages helping?"

"mind out of the gutter Kuroko," she chastised the younger girl in a fairly calm and level voice as she gave her a small electric shock comparable to a particular nasty static shock. Right now she held enough power over the girl that that was all that was necessary. The harsh shocks were never solely to punish Kuroko, but rather they were to reassert Misaka's dominance after Kuroko did something to challenge it. Right now her dominance was unquestionable though.

Misaka noticed as the tiny charge played across the teleporter's body despite how minor it had been. The water ,having less resistance than air, effected the electro master's lightning in quite an interesting way. She began experimenting, gently zapping Kuroko again and again and seeing what it did. She kept it all at a low voltage and the sounds that were coming from Kuroko didn't sound pained, so she kept it up until Kuroo reminded her that she still had to wash up. Misaka let go and began to help Kuroko wash her hair and back. "When we get out I'll help you change your bandages," she said. She had never done it before but she wanted to try.

"Thank you Onee-sama," Kuroko said, unable to refuse when Misaka was being like this. She had grown flustered again and it became easier to just go along with what the older girl said rather than protesting. Normally she wouldn't let Misaka change her bandages, or anyone for that matter, because there usually wasn't anything beneath, the bandages were just for show because people expected her to be hurt. They were gone quickly enough, which people attributed to her endurance, and nobody really noticed it. However thanks to Touma these wounds had stayed.

So after the bath Misaka got out and picked Kuroko up once again, drying her off and changing the bandages before carrying her back out to the beds, placing her on the edge of the electro master's own bed.

"Onee-sama," Kuroko said softly as Misaka went over and stood at the closet, getting a uniform for Kuroko and herself to change into., "sorry for all the inconvenience I'm putting you through, and thank you." her eyes were turned downwards towards the floor as the older girl turned to look.

"Kuroko," Misaka said as she began walking over to the other girl, forgetting about the uniform for a second as she leaned down to look Kuroo in the eyes, "I should be the one saying sorry, and thanks. You only got hurt because of me. So I'm sorry, and thank you..."

Kuroko looked back up at her and blushed, then smiled slightly. the electro master's heart skipped a beat as she saw the teleporter's features. her mind screamed one word: cute. She leaned forward a bit more and kissed the other girl on the lips. Unfortunately she leaned a bit too far forward and ended up unbalancing herself. She fell onto the bed on top of Kuroko. She looked down at the girl, hair and skin still slightly wet and glistening from the water. Her skin still flushed from the heat of the hot water but she was shivering slightly from the cold air. They locked eyes for a second and simultaneously said "I love you." they smiled at that and shared a quiet chuckle before kissing once again.

In the middle of the kiss the pair suddenly heard the door open as Saten's voice rung out, "Hey Misaka, Kuroko. We thought we'd stop by and…" Then there was a second of silence as a paper bag was heard hitting the floor. Then the door closed and footsteps began walking away.

"Wrong room?" Saten suggested as they walked away.

"Must be..." Uiharu agreed as the two walked off, trying as hard as they could to forget everything they had just seen.

* * *

Author's Note: Saten really needs to learn how to knock...

I know the first half is boring so I loaded the second half with as much fluff as possible to make up for it.


End file.
